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Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
A simulation-based network analysis of intervention targets for body appreciation among Chinese adolescents across
Wanyu Wu1, Honghong Zhang2, Dan Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
The present study aimed to explore potential effective intervention targets for body appreciation among Chinese early adolescent girls (N = 1530) and boys (N = 1414) aged 12-17. Network analysis of the 10 Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) items showed that Item 4 ("I take a positive attitude towards my body") was the most central item for girls and boys, indicating that this attitudinal dimension was the core element of body appreciation. The NodeIdentifyR algorithm was used to simulate an item-specific intervention within networks, examining the effects of enhancing a specific element of body appreciation on the network's sum scores. Results showed that Item 10 ("I feel like I am beautiful even if I am different from media images of attractive people [e.g., models, actresses/ actors]" was associated with the greatest projected increase for girls and boys. Thus, Items 4 and 10 may potentially serve as ideal targets for nurturing body appreciation among Chinese adolescents. Pending longitudinal cross-validation, our preliminary findings indicate that prevention and treatment programs designed to foster body appreciation among Chinese adolescents may benefit more strongly by emphasizing two key, yet inter-related components: cultivating a positive attitude toward one's body and promoting body-affirmation (believing that their bodies are beautiful) alongside rejecting media-promoted appearance ideals as the sole representation of beauty.
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