Stress a predictor of body dissatisfaction in adolescents
Adolescence. A time we all remember well. A period of sudden, novel and uncontrollable changes in physical, emotional, academic and social domains. These transitions are a normal part of growing up and, while exciting, can leave us feeling tense, overwhelmed and uncertain. In other words, stressed.
Adolescent stress has received increasing interest from researchers, clinicians and the community in recent years, and has been identified as a contributor to a number of health concerns including depression, anxiety, and smoking. Furthermore, the annual Mission Australia Youth Survey in Australia consistently reveals that young people rate coping with stress in their top three personal concerns. Another concern which features consistently in the top three is body image – a complex representation of how we think, feel and behave in relation to our body.
Our body image forms an integral part of how we feel about ourselves. Sadly, statistics suggest more than 50 per cent of adolescents report being dissatisfied with their appearance, leading to it being described as a “normative” experience for this period. However, research linking body dissatisfaction with depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders raises a warning that frequent should not be mistaken for acceptable.
While rates of body dissatisfaction have increased in recent decades, so too has research aimed at understanding, identifying and preventing its progression in youth. These national and international efforts have uncovered numerous important influences in the development of body image in adolescence, including parents, peers, the media, gender and weight. However, surprisingly limited attention has been paid to stress, despite its significance during adolescence.
Researchers from the Research School of Psychology at the Australian National University sought to investigate the role of adolescent stress in body dissatisfaction. The study surveyed 300 female and male secondary school students in Grades 7 to 10, and then followed them up 12 months later. Participants were asked about how stressful they had found a number of life domains, including peer, romantic and family relationships, schoolwork, the future and financial pressures, as well as how they felt about themselves and their appearance. Results indicated that reporting higher initial levels of stress predicted greater levels of body dissatisfaction 12 months later. Interestingly, the reverse was not found to be the case in that initial body dissatisfaction did not lead to increases in stress over time.
When the researchers looked at how stress impacted on body dissatisfaction, they found that self-esteem and the importance of appearance were key. It was revealed that stress had a negative effect on self-esteem and also led to appearance having a greater role in self-evaluations, which in turn led to increases in body dissatisfaction. In other words, stress made adolescents feel worse about themselves in general and caused them to focus more on their body when evaluating themselves, both of which in turn made them feel less satisfied with their appearance.
The results contribute to an important and complex area of research, suggesting that influences on body image need not be focused specifically on appearance, and could relate to generalised difficulties such as stress, adjustment and coping. They highlight the need for programs that are designed to prevent body dissatisfaction to focus on helping young people develop a positive sense of self-worth, value themselves on multiple life domains (rather than mainly in terms of appearance), and provide skills to help them manage the inevitable upheavals and challenges of life.
Dr Kristen Murray is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University’s Research School of Psychology. Elizabeth Rieger and Don Byrne also contributed to the article.
National Psychology Week starts on Monday. The theme this year is stress and well-being.
This op-ed was first published in The Canberra Times, 10 November 2014.
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