Body Image Self-Discrepancy and Depressive Symptoms Among Early Adolescents

This study examined whether body image self-discrepancy was a correlate of depressive symptoms among 556 early adolescents (45% girls; M_age = 11.65, SD = .94 years).

Participants completed self-report measures of their self-perceived actual and ideal body shapes and depressive symptoms. Sex-stratified polynomial regressions were used to examine the associations between depressive symptoms and (1) agreement (i.e., similar actual and ideal body shapes); (2) discrepancy (i.e., different actual and ideal body shapes); (3) direction of discrepancy (i.e., actual > ideal or actual < ideal); and (4) degree of discrepancy (i.e., how different actual and ideal body self-perceptions are).

For both sexes, depressive symptoms were more frequent when the direction of the discrepancy was such that participants perceived their actual body was larger than their ideal body. Furthermore, depressive symptoms were more frequent when the degree of the discrepancy between actual and ideal body shape perceptions was larger.

Based on these findings, body image self-discrepancy may be a risk factor for depressive symptoms among early adolescents.