Self-esteem and negative affect as moderators of sociocultural influences on body dissatisfaction, strategies to decrease weight and strategies to increase muscles among adolescent boys and girls

The study was conducted to examine the impact of sociocultural influences and the moderating role of self-esteem and negative affect on body dissatisfaction and body change strategies for both adolescent boys and girls. Surveys designed to assess body dissatisfaction, body change strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles, perceived sociocultural pressures to lose weight and increase muscles, self-esteem and negative affect were administered to 587 boys and 598 girls aged between 11 and 15 years. The majority of respondents were from Anglo-Australian backgrounds (83%) with the remainder being from Asian and European non-English-speaking backgrounds. The sociocultural influences were found to significantly predict body dissatisfaction and body change strategies for both boys and girls. However, in the case of boys, self-esteem was found to moderate the impact of the sociocultural influences in predicting body change strategies. It was primarily the boys with low self-esteem who were more affected by the sociocultural pressures whereas the girls were affected independently of their self-esteem. Negative affect was also found to play a moderating role on some of the sociocultural influences in predicting strategies to increase muscles. Both boys and girls with higher levels of negative affect were more likely to be affected by sociocultural messages directed at increasing muscles. The results from the present study demonstrate that as well as examining the direct influence of sociocultural pressures, it is also important to examine how these may be moderated by self-esteem and negative affect.

Parent, peer and media influences on body image and strategies to both increase and decrease body size among adolescent boys and girls

This study investigated the nature of body image and body change strategies, as well as the sociocultural influences on these variables, among a group of 1,266 adolescents (622 males, 644 females). In particular, it investigated weight gain and increased muscle, as well as weight loss. It was found that females were less satisfied with their bodies and were more likely to adopt strategies to lose weight, whereas males were more likely to adopt strategies to increase weight and muscle tone. Respondents with higher body mass index (BMI) evidenced greater body dissatisfaction and more weight loss strategies, but there were no differences between BMI groups in weight gain or strategies to increase muscles. Weight gain and strategies to increase muscles were more likely to be undertaken by older adolescents, but there were no grade level differences in weight loss. Media influences to alter weight, as well as feedback from mother, father, and both male and female peers, were greater for females. There were few grade level or BMI differences in regard to any of the sociocultural influences. The importance of these findings in terms of providing a better understanding of factors which may lead to a disturbed body image and body change disorders, particularly among adolescent boys, is discussed.

The role of puberty, media and popularity with peers on strategies to increase weight, decrease weight and increase muscle tone among adolescent boys and girls

The present study was concerned with the impact of pubertal development, relationships with peers and perceived pressure from the media on body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors among adolescent boys and girls. In particular, the study investigated the underresearched area of strategies to increase weight and muscle. The exploration of body change strategies among adolescent boys has been a neglected area of research. Methods: Respondents were 1185 adolescents (527 males, 598 females) who were enrolled in Grades 7 and 9. Participants completed measures of pubertal development, media and peer influence, body dissatisfaction and strategies to lose weight, increase weight and to increase muscle. Results: The findings demonstrated that girls were more likely than boys to adopt strategies to lose weight, whereas boys were more likely to adopt strategies to increase muscle tone (but not weight). For boys in both Years 7 and 9, the main predictors of body change strategies were puberty and, to a lesser extent, perceived popularity with peers. The major influences for Years 7 and 9 girls were puberty and the media, but these mainly focused on weight loss. For Year 9 girls, perceived popularity with opposite-sex peers also predicted body dissatisfaction and strategies to increase muscle tone. Conclusion: The implications of these findings for understanding factors related to a range of body change strategies for adolescent boys and girls are discussed.

Sociocultural and individual influences on muscle gain and weight loss strategies among adolescent boys and girls

The study examined the role of body dissatisfaction, body image importance, sociocultural influences (media and parent and peer encouragement), self-esteem and negative affect on body change strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles in adolescent boys and girls. Surveys were administered to 587 boys and 598 girls aged between 11 and 15 years. For both genders, parent and peer encouragement and negative affect were the primary predictors of body dissatisfaction, body image importance and strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles. In addition, body image importance was a significant factor in the development of both types of body change strategies, while the media only predicted strategies to decrease weight. Lastly, the effects of self-esteem were mediated by body dissatisfaction. For boys, a stronger focus on body importance occurred among the boys who were generally satisfied with their bodies while the reverse was the case for girls.

A longitudinal study of body change strategies among adolescent males

This study was designed to examine the factors predicting a range of body change strategies among adolescent males over an 8-month time period. This is the first published longitudinal study of body change strategies to increase weight and muscles among males. The 5 body change strategies in the present study were eating and exercise to lose weight, increase weight, increase muscles, bingeing, and use of food supplements. The extent to which Body Mass Index (BMI) and these body change strategies predicted each other over an 8-month period was evaluated. The role of pressure from parents and peers to lose weight, increase weight, or increase muscles was also evaluated. After controlling for the Time 1 level of each variable, only bingeing, and use of food supplements were predicted by other Time 1 body change variables. Bingeing at Time 1, and a combination of all of the other variables predicted bingeing at Time 2; use of food supplements and bingeing at Time 1 predicted the use of food supplements at Time 2. Perceived pressure from parents and peers to lose weight at Time 1 predicted strategies to lose weight at Time 2; perceived pressure from parents and peers to increase weight at Time 1 predicted strategies to increase weight at Time 2; and perceived pressure to lose weight, increase weight, and increase muscles at Time 1 predicted the use of food supplements at Time 2. These results indicate that extreme body change strategies are predicted by the adoption of more normative body change strategies at an earlier point in time, and that a range of body change strategies among adolescent males are affected by perceived pressures from parents and peers.

Sociocultural influences on body image concerns and body change strategies among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australian adolescent girls and boys

Sociocultural messages about the ideal body build have been studied predominantlyamong White adolescent girls. In the current study we examined the relationships between perceived sociocultural influences, body image concerns, and body change strategies among 47 (22 boys and 25 girls) Indigenous Australian adolescents. These relationships were compared to those from 47 non-Indigenous adolescents (predominantly from an Anglo-Saxon background), who were matched on gender, age, and school grade. Overall, the sociocultural influences were found to be associated with body image concerns and body change strategies among both cultural groups. The only exception was that the sociocultural influences were not associated with the Indigenous girls levels of body dissatisfaction or body image importance. These findings are discussed in relation to past studies of White and Black girls.

Sociocultural influences on adolescent boys' body image and body change strategies

Society provides messages about how people should ideally look and previous research has indicated these messages, both the actual messages provided and the perception of the message, influence body image. Research into male body image has shown males are concerned with having a lean and muscular body and as such, may want to decrease fat and increase their muscles. This paper explored the influence of a range of messages from parents, peers, and the media on a number of different measures of 362 adolescent boys’ body image and body change strategies. Specifically, messages about shape, food, exercise, losing weight and increasing muscles were explored in relation to satisfaction with weight and muscles, and the use of strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles. The findings indicated that parental messages were the strongest influence on body image and that parents, the media, and to a lesser extent messages from male friends were the strongest predictors of body change strategies.

Change for the BEST: family changes for parents coping with youth substance abuse

This paper reports family changes for participants in a program for parents coping with youth substance abuse. The Behavioural Exchange Systems Training (BEST) program is a professionally-led, parent training intervention. During 1996 and 1997, six groups of parents participated in the program. High levels of depression were observed at intake and symptoms demonstrated a stable reduction in association with exposure to the program. Parents tended to achieve success in developing common strategies for assertively managing family problems, though couples from more complex blended families found this more difficult. Adolescent improvements were noted during the weeks observed. A two year follow up conducted with a subset of families revealed that parents continued to report that the intervention had helped them cope with youth drug abuse.

Body image and body change strategies among adolescent males and females from Fiji, Tonga and Australia

The current study was designed to investigate the body image and body change strategies of adolescents from Fiji, Tonga and Australia. Participants were 628 Fijians, 463 Indo-Fijians, 598 Tongans and 535 European Australians. Adolescents completed measures of height, weight, body dissatisfaction, strategies to lose weight, increase weight and increase muscles. The results demonstrated that overweight adolescents were more dissatisfied with their bodies than those who were normal weight. Overweight Fijians and Tongans were more satisfied with their body than Indo-Fijian or Australian adolescents. Tongans, followed by Fijians and Indo-Fijians, were more likely to engage in strategies to lose weight, increase weight and increase muscles. These results are consistent with the focus in Fiji and Tonga on the value of the large body ideal, but may also reflect the recent focus on the attainment of a healthy body size.

Body dissatisfaction and body change strategies among adolescents : a longitudinal investigation

This thesis examined body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors among adolescent girls and boys from a biopsychosocial framework. The contribution of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors were examined in relation to body dissatisfaction, weight loss, weight gain and increased muscle tone behaviors among early adolescent girls and boys. In particular, pubertal maturation, body mass index (BMI), perception of body shape and size and psychological factors, such as depression, anxiety, ineffectiveness, self-esteem and perfectionism, were examined as possible factors that may precipitate or maintain body dissatisfaction and engagement in body change strategies. The sociocultural factors evaluated were the quality of family and peer relationships, as well as the influence of family and peers in predicting the adoption of specific body change strategies. The specific mechanisms by which these influences were transmitted were also examined. These included perceived discussion, encouragement and modelling of various body change strategies, as well as perceived teasing about body shape and size. A number of separate cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were conducted to examine the above relationships and identify the factors that contribute to weight loss, weight gain and increased muscle tone behaviors in adolescents. Study 1 examined the psychometric properties and principal components structure of the Bulimia Test Revised (BULIT-R; Thelen, Farmer, Wonderlich, & Smith, 1991) to assess its applicability to adolescent samples. Study 2 investigated the nature of body dissatisfaction and weight loss behaviors among 603 adolescents (306 girls and 297 boys) using a standardised questionnaire. This preliminary study was conducted to ascertain whether variables previously found to be relevant to adolescent girls, could also be related to the development of body dissatisfaction and weight loss behaviors among adolescent boys. Studies 3 and 4 described the development and validation of a body modification scale that measured weight loss, weight gain and increased muscle tone behaviors. Studies 5 and 6 were designed to modify an Excessive Exercise Scale developed by Long, Smith, Midgley, and Cassidy (1993) into a shorter form, and validate this scale with an adolescent sample. Study 7 investigated the factors that contribute to weight loss, weight gain and increased muscle among adolescent girls and boys both cross-sectionally and longitudinally (over one year). Structural equation modelling was used to examine associations among self-reported body dissatisfaction, body change strategies and a range of biological, psychological and sociocultural variables both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Overall, the results suggested that both girls and boys experience body dissatisfaction and engage in a number of different body change strategies in order to achieve an ideal size. A number of gender similarities and differences were identified in the expression of body dissatisfaction and the adoption of body change strategies for both girls and boys. Girls were more likely than boys to report body dissatisfaction and engage in weight loss behaviors, while boys were more likely than girls to engage in weight gain and increased muscle tone behaviors. Generally, the same factors were found to contribute to weight loss, and more specifically, bulimic symptomatology, ad weight gain in both adolescent girls and boys. While a combination of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors contributed to bulimic symptomatology, only biological and psychological factors were found to contribute to weight gain in adolescents. The most notable gender differences were found in the model of increased muscle tone. Sociocultural and biological factors contributed to increased muscle tone behaviors in girls, while sociocultural and psychological factors were implicated in these behaviors in adolescent boys. With the exception of the model of increased muscle tone for boys, body dissatisfaction was a consistent factor in the adoption of body change behaviors. Consistent with previous investigations, the present thesis provides empirical support for the need to examine the etiology and maintenance of such concerns and behaviors from a multifaceted perspective.

Prevention of body concerns and risk behaviours in adolescent boys

Overall, this thesis was designed to explore the nature of adolescent boys' body image, the effects of body image on body change strategies and psychological adjustment, and the factors that influence body image. The first study examined body image in 362 adolescent boys. Body image was considered in terms of attitudes to different body parts and attributes, including, lower, middle and upper body, as well as weight, shape and muscles. The relationships between Body Mass Index (BMI), body image, sociocultural messages, psychological adjustment and body change strategies, including strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles using food and exercise, drive for thinness, bulimic attitudes and behaviour, excessive exercise, food supplements to lose weight, increase muscles and steroids, were also investigated. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the role of body image, sociocultural messages and psychological adjustment to predict satisfaction with different body attributes and body change strategies. The findings from study one led to the development of a program aimed at preventing the development of unhealthy attitudes and behaviours among adolescent boys. Study two involved the implementation and evaluation of this prevention program. One hundred and twenty one boys participated in the program. The program was based on social-cognitive theory, and included a focus on accepting differences and the development of self-esteem. The boys who participated in the program indicated some change in existing attitudes and showed less development of risk behaviours relative to the control group. The implications of the findings from this thesis in relation to future research, as well as the prevention of adolescent boys' body image problems are discussed.