Body dissatisfaction prospectively predicts depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys

This research examined whether body dissatisfaction prospectively predicted depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys 5 years later Participants were early-adolescent girls (n = 440, Time I M age = 12.7 years) and boys (n = 366, Time I M age = 12.8 years) and midadolescent girls (n = 946, Time I M age = 15.8 years) and boys (n = 764, Time I M age = 15.9 years). After controlling for Time I of the relevant dependent variable, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and body mass index, Time I body dissatisfaction was a unique predictor of Time 2 depressive mood and low self-esteem in early-adolescent girls (depressive mood: F = 4.80, p < .05; self-esteem: F = 9.64, p < . 01) and midadolescent boys (depressive mood: F = 12.27, p < .001; self-esteem: F = 9.38, p < .01) but not in early-adolescent boys or midadolescent girls. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for depressive mood and low self-esteem in both girls and boys but in different phases of adolescence.