Study: Teens with Negative Body Image May Experience Depression as Adults

Adolescence is fraught with stressful changes, and the developing body can be one of those challenges, especially if a teen’s body doesn’t meet society’s — or that teen’s — standards.

Negative body image can threaten mental health, according to new research that found teenagers who were dissatisfied with their bodies tended to experience depression as adults.

Previous research has shown that up to 61% of adolescents have reported experiencing body dissatisfaction to some extent, cited a study published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, documenting a trend increasing alongside the social media boom.

Despite the connection between negative body image and eating disorders, other risky health behaviors and poor mental health, “body dissatisfaction is not widely viewed as a concern” in the public health field, the study authors said.

Few children struggle with depression, but the likelihood grows as children grow — so the authors studied how depression might contribute to the body image of adolescents.

Weight and figure were the most common areas of distress: At 14, 32% of girls and 14% of boys were dissatisfied with their weight. More than 27% of girls and nearly 14% of boys were unhappy with their figure. Girls who were discontent with their bodies at 14 had mild, moderate and severe depressive episodes at 18, while boys had mild and/or moderate depressive episodes. The findings contrast the ideas that negative body image is exclusive to high body mass index and girls and women.

Working on your perception of your body can not only make you more appreciative of it, but also improve your confidence and opportunities. “Whatever you focus on gets bigger,” psychologist and author Ann Kearney-Cooke said. These experts have advice for how you can start:

• Remember that bodies come in all shapes and sizes.
• Don’t compare yourself to others. “Most people, when they compare themselves to others, especially females, they come up short,” she added. Additionally, “the person you see on TV isn’t the person that walked into the greenroom.”
• Keep track of any choice you make to feel good about your body. This can help you to begin to enjoy yourself in opportunities you once avoided out of fear of how you look.
• Donate clothes that no longer fit to a good cause. Then find fabrics and colors you feel good in.
• When negative thoughts enter your mind, visualize a stop sign. Realize that it’s mental noise from cultural judgments, comments and comparison and is likely untrue.
• Confront unwanted comments about your body. “Say to them, ‘I’d appreciate if you don’t comment on my body,’” Kearney-Cooke said.
• Be aware that what you see on social media often isn’t reality. Most people post their “very best pictures,” she added. “Go within yourself and let (your) compass of direction be you.”
• Adjust your social media consumption. On social media you can find people of various racial and ethnic identities, body types and abilities, Parent said. You have some degree of power in creating your social media environment.
• Take care of your body in ways that make you feel best. Try to eat healthful foods often but don’t get hung up on “good” or “bad” foods. View your body as something to nurture rather than something to punish through restrictive eating or excessive exercise, Bornioli said.
• Shift to perceiving your body “as an instrument, not an ornament,” she added. Focusing on what your body can do removes emphasis from how you look, and instead makes you more appreciative of how amazing your body is.

Excerpted from”Teens with negative body image may experience depression as adults, study finds” in CNN. Read the full article online.

Source: CNN | Teens with negative body image may experience depression as adults, study finds, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/health/body-image-depression-teens-study-wellness/index.html | © 2020 Cable News Network

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