Psychosocial correlates of body esteem and disordered eating among sexual minority adolescent girls

Abstract

The present study examined whether body esteem mediates the associations between psychosocial factors, including peer victimization and parent–adolescent relationship quality, and multiple categories of disordered eating (DE) within a diverse sample of adolescent sexual minority (SM) girls. Participants were 528 girls, aged 14–18 years, recruited as part of a larger online study on LGBTQ + adolescent health. Participants anonymously completed self-report measures of parent–adolescent relationship quality, sexual orientation-based victimization, body esteem, and DE behaviors, including binge eating, purging, and caloric restriction. Parent–adolescent relationship quality was positively associated with SM adolescent girls’ body esteem, and some aspects of body esteem subsequently mediated the associations between parent–adolescent relationship quality and DE behaviors. Experiences of sexual orientation-related victimization were also positively related to endorsement of caloric restriction. However, no significant indirect effects were observed between sexual orientation-related victimization and DE via body esteem. These results suggest parents could influence their SM daughters’ DE behaviors via body esteem, and SM girls may be engaging in caloric restriction if they experience victimization, regardless of their body esteem.