Association between body image satisfaction and depression in teenagers

Abstract

Introduction: Teenagers have body image changes due to physical changes occurring at the teenage period. At this age, self-confidence is influenced by physical changes possibly resulting in mental disorders and depression in teenagers. For this reason, this study tried to evaluate the association between body image satisfaction and depression in teenagers and the association between body image satisfaction and depression in adolescent boys and girls.

Methods: This was a descriptive analytic one-group one step design study on 400 female and male students of grade 5 and 6 of governmental secondary schools in Isfahan (in IRAN) in school year 2002 to 2003. The subjects were selected by stratified random sampling method. The data, collected by questionnaires, were analyzed by descriptive inferential statistics in SPSS software.

Results: The findings, based on Pearson correlation test (r=0.667, P<0.001), showed a significant association between body image and depression in students. The findings also showed that body image satisfaction is less prevalent among girls than in boys.

Conclusion: Although body image dissatisfaction and depression were seen more frequently among teenage girls than in boys, but in both groups, there was a significant association between body image and depression. Then, teenage boys are also at risk of depression like teenage girls and more care should be paid to these two groups of teenagers.

Key words: Body image satisfaction, depression, adolescent.