Body surveillance as a prospective risk factor for depressive symptoms in low-income adolescent girls from the United States

Abstract

Adolescent girls who engage in frequent self-objectification often report a greater number of depressive symptoms. Although concurrent associations between self-objectification and depression are well-documented, it is less clear if objectification contributes to the course of symptoms. The current study examined: (a) whether body surveillance is prospectively related to depressive symptoms over a 1-month period in a sample of 150 low-income adolescent girls in the United States, and; (b) whether receiving certain types of weight-relevant information (i.e., learning one’s weight is much higher than estimated) moderates this association. Heightened body surveillance at baseline predicted greater symptom severity one month later, but the strength of this relationship depended on what type of weight information girls received. Among girls high in body surveillance, those who found out their actual weight was much higher than they estimated subsequently reported more severe depressive symptoms; those who learned their actual weight was consistent or lower than they estimated reported fewer depressive symptoms. For girls low in body surveillance, weight-relevant information was not significantly related to the subsequent severity of depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the potential utility of assessing and addressing heightened body surveillance in depression interventions for adolescent girls.