Are there different sociocultural influences on body image and body change strategies for overweight adolescent boys and girls?
Introduction
A substantial body of literature has examined the nature of the sociocultural influences on weight loss and strategies to increase muscle bulk among adolescent boys and girls. Most of this research on adolescent girls has focused on losing weight (e.g., Field et al., 2005), and has demonstrated the importance of mothers (e.g., Polivy and Herman, 2002, Shomaker and Furman, 2009), peers (e.g., Jones, 2002, Tremblay and Lariviere, 2009), and the media (e.g., Hargreaves and Tiggemann, 2003, Tiggeman, 2006) in shaping both body dissatisfaction as well as strategies to lose weight. Until recently there has been more limited research among adolescent boys, and the studies that have been conducted have been primarily focused on increasing muscle size (see Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004 for a review), although they also engage in strategies to lose weight (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2004, Meesters et al., 2007). A limitation of these past studies is that they have not examined the types of messages and subsequent behaviors by adolescents from different body mass index (BMI) groups. Most particularly, it is not clear if adolescent boys and girls who are overweight or obese receive different messages from parents, peers and media regarding weight loss and muscle bulk than those from normal weight adolescents. Although a biopsychosocial model has been developed to explain both disordered eating and strategies to increase muscle bulk among adolescent boys (Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004), the extent to which this model operates differently for overweight and normal weight boys has not been evaluated. The biopsychosocial model proposed by Ricciardelli and McCabe emphasises the importance of biological (e.g., pubertal development), psychological (e.g., depression, anxiety, and positive affect) and sociocultural (e.g., messages from parents, peers, and media) factors in predicting body image and body change strategies among adolescent boys and girls. The sociocultural aspect of this model is explored in the current study, and the role of this model among overweight adolescents will be investigated.
Epidemiological data clearly indicate that adolescents are becoming increasingly overweight. For example, Troiano and Flegal (1998) found that 11% of young people in the US from 6-17 years were overweight in 1988–1994, compared to about 4% in 1963–1965. Further, Latner and Stunkard (2003) found that there was a high level of stigma associated with being overweight among children. Many overweight adolescents, particularly overweight girls, have been found to adopt unhealthy weight loss behaviors, such as the use of diet pills, laxatives, diuretics or vomiting (Neumark-Sztainer, Story, et al., 2002, Libbey et al., 2008). McCabe, Ricciardelli, and Holt (2005) found that both overweight boys and girls evidenced lower levels of self-esteem and positive affect, as well as higher levels of negative affect when compared to normal weight boys and girls. The remainder of this Introduction reviews the role of sociocultural influences on eating behaviors among adolescents, particularly those who are overweight.
In terms of the sociocultural aspects of Ricciardelli and McCabe's (2004) model, the literature that is available suggests that not only do overweight adolescent girls engage in unhealthy eating behaviors, but they also model on their friends' dietary behaviors (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, Story, & Perry, 2005). In addition, research has demonstrated that overweight adolescent boys and girls are more likely to be teased by both their peers as well as members of their family about their weight (Neumark-Sztainer, Falkner, Story, Perry, Hannan, & Mulert, 2002). Further, Falkner et al. (2001) demonstrated that both overweight adolescent boys and girls were less likely to spend time with their friends compared to normal weight boys and girls. Although no studies were located that examined the impact of media messages specifically on overweight adolescent boys and girls, it would be expected that the nature and the impact of these messages may be quite different from those among normal weight boys and girls.
It is not clear whether or not there are also differences in the nature of the biopsychosocial drivers to increase muscle bulk among overweight adolescents. That is, are there different relationships between pubertal development, positive and negative affect, as well as sociocultural messages and body dissatisfaction or body change strategies for normal weight and overweight adolescents? From the biopsychosocial model that was developed by Ricciardelli and McCabe (2004), it was expected that the relationships in this model would be particularly salient for weight loss among overweight adolescents. The research reviewed earlier suggests that peers and the family transmit strong messages to overweight adolescents about their weight. However, it is not clear if this model is also relevant for strategies to increase muscle bulk among overweight adolescents, and if the nature of these biopsychosocial relationships for overweight adolescents is different from those for normal weight adolescents.
The current study was designed to evaluate the differences between overweight and normal weight adolescent boys and girls in their levels of body dissatisfaction and body image importance, as well as their strategies to lose weight and increase muscle bulk. Differences in the types of messages received from the different sociocultural agents (peers, parents, and media) were also investigated. The study also examined the utility of the biopsychosocial model to explain body change strategies for both overweight and normal weight adolescent boys and girls. In particular, the role of pubertal development (biological), positive and negative affect (psychological) and messages from peers, parents and media (sociocultural) for both overweight and normal weight adolescent boys and girls to predict strategies to lose weight and to increase muscle bulk were examined.
It was predicted that the biopsychosocial model outlined in Fig. 1 (see Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004) would explain weight loss and strategies to increase muscle bulk among both overweight and normal weight adolescent boys and girls. This model proposes that the biological factors predict the psychological responses, which either directly predict body dissatisfaction and body image importance, or indirectly predict sociocultural strategies. All of these factors predict both strategies to lose weight or increase muscle bulk. It was expected that the dimensions of this model would strongly predict weight loss for overweight boys and girls, and that they would also be a strong predictor of increasing muscle bulk for boys.
Section snippets
Participants
The sample consisted of 590 adolescents. Three hundred and forty-four boys and 246 girls participated in the study from the first year in high school (166 boys and 134 girls) and the third year in high school (178 boys and 112 girls). The age range of the adolescents was 11 to 16 years. Participants were classified as overweight, normal weight or underweight based on international cut off points for gender and age provided by Cole, Bellizzi, Flegal, and Dietz (2000). Of the 344 boys, 268 were
Results
Mean scores on each of the body image, body change strategies, positive and negative affect, and sociocultural influences for overweight and normal weight boys and girls are summarized in Table 2. A two-way weight (normal weight and overweight) by gender (boys and girls) multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to examine group differences on all variables. Using Pillai's criterion, the multivariate effect for weight, F(11, 609) = 8.26 p < .001 was significant. Thirteen percent of the
Discussion
As expected, overweight adolescents experienced higher levels of body dissatisfaction and were more likely to engage in strategies to lose weight. They also perceived that there were greater pressures from parents and peers to lose weight than normal weight adolescents. These differences according to BMI are consistent with previous research findings (e.g., Neumark-Sztainer, Falkner, et al., 2002). Also consistent with previous research (e.g., Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004), boys reported higher
Role of funding sources
No funding source was involved in the preparation of this manuscript.
Contributors
Professor Marita McCabe and Associate Professor Lina Ricciardelli designed the study and wrote the protocol. Dr Kate Holt conducted literature searches and provided summaries of previous research studies, and also conducted statistical analysis. Professor McCabe wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of interest
There are no conflicts of interest by any author.
References (30)
- et al.
The role of social norms and friends' influences on unhealthy weight-control among adolescent girls
Social Science & Medicine
(2005) - et al.
A longitudinal study to explain strategies to change weight and muscle bulk among normal weight and overweight children
Appetite
(2005) - et al.
Social and family correlates of eating problems and muscle preoccupation in young adolescents
Eating Behaviors
(2007) - et al.
Dietary restraint and negative affect as mediators of body dissatisfaction and bulimic behavior in adolescent boys and girls
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(2001) - et al.
Interpersonal influences on late adolescent girls' and boys' disordered eating
Eating Behaviors
(2009) - et al.
The influences of puberty onset, Body Mass Index, and pressure to be think on dis0rdered eating behaviors in children and adolescents
Eating Behaviors
(2009) - et al.
AMOS 5.0 user's guide
(2003) Structural equations with latent variables
(1989)- et al.
Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: International survey
British Medical Journal
(2000) - et al.
Social, educational, and psychological correlates of weight status in adolescents
Obesity Research
(2001)
Weight concerns and weight control behaviors of adolescents and their mothers
Archives of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
Longer-term implications of responsiveness to ‘thin-ideal’ television: Support for cumulative hypothesis of body image disturbance?
European Eating Disorders Review
Social comparison and body image: Attractiveness comparisons to models and peers among adolescent girls and boys
Sex Roles
Getting worse: The stigmatization of obese children
Obesity Research
Teasing, disordered eating behaviours, and psychological morbidities among overweight adolescents
Obesity
Cited by (48)
Pubertal timing and its developmental significance for mental health and adjustment
2023, Encyclopedia of Mental Health, Third Edition: Volume 1-3Pubertal Timing and Its Developmental Significance for Mental Health and Adjustment
2016, Encyclopedia of Mental Health: Second EditionBiopsychosocial correlates of dietary intent in middle school girls
2015, Eating BehaviorsFrench validation of the Male Body Dissatisfaction Scale in a sample of young men
2014, Journal de Therapie Comportementale et Cognitive