From Fat to Fabulous: Adolescent Obesity, Self-Esteem, and Coping Mechanisms

ISBN-13: 9783639032994 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 132 str.

Leslie Elrod

Opis

Using the National Longitudinal Study for Adolescent Health (Add­Health) this study investigated six hypotheses assessing the relation­ship between adolescent body mass and self-esteem. Specifically, this study sought to identify whether elective coping mechanisms, in­cluding academic performance, extracurricular participation, and vo­luntarism, mediated the relationship between body mass and self-esteem. A variety of statistical methods (including regression and path analyses) revealed that the relationship between adolescent body mass and self-esteem was suppressed by intervening variables in­cluding negative body image and academic performance. When con­trolling for academic performance and body image, adolescents with higher body mass exhibit higher self-esteem than those adolescents with lower body mass at the stringent p> .001 level. The implication of the finding of higher body mass being related to higher self-esteem, when controlling for negative body image and academic per­formance, is enough to give pause. Perception of acceptance of those of varying body sizes may protect a growing group of adolescents from diminished self-esteem.

O autorze

Elrod, Leslie Dr. Elrod is Asst. Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Cincinnati, RWC specializing in sociology, social psychology, and deviance. Recent related works include contributions to the Parillo Ency. of Social Problems, and conference presentations including the ASA, Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Research (Ontario), and NCSA.