Preventing the development of body issues in adolescent girls through intervention with their mothers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Healthy Girls Project, an ecologically based, targeted prevention program aimed at discouraging the development of body-related problems in middle-school girls via an intervention directly and only with their mothers. Participants were 31 seventh- and eighth-grade girls and their mothers. The empirically based intervention comprised a series of 4 weekly workshops that had both interactive psychoeducational components and behavioral components (e.g., homework to do with daughters, modeling activities). The study design was experimental, with mother–daughter dyads randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a wait-list control group. Daughters completed pretest (i.e., pre-workshop) measures, posttest measures, and, 3 months later, follow-up measures. Results indicated that at both posttest and follow-up, girls whose mothers were in the intervention group perceived less pressure from their mothers to be thin. At follow-up, these girls also showed a lower drive for thinness. Results were mixed regarding group differences in body dissatisfaction levels at posttest and at follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for targeted prevention efforts aimed at girls during their middle-school years.