Citation

Franko DL, Striegel-Moore RH. J. Psychosom. Res. 2002; 53(5): 975-983.

Affiliation

Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology, Northeastern University, 210B Lake Hall, Boston, MA 02115-5000, USA. d.franko@neu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12445587

Abstract

Body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and depression differentially affect adolescent girls (compared to boys); however, these variables have not been examined in relation to ethnicity. A review of the literature finds that Black adolescent girls are more satisfied with their bodies than White adolescent girls and engage much less frequently in dieting or disordered eating than do White girls in the US. A central question raised by this review is whether body dissatisfaction and pubertal timing are as relevant to our understanding of the etiology of depression in Black girls as they appear to be in White girls. Based on the available data, it does not seem that a risk factor model supporting the role of early pubertal timing, weight increases and body dissatisfaction in the development of depression applies to Black adolescent girls. This review underscores the need for future research with a variety of ethnic minority groups to better understand the etiology of adolescent depression.

Language: en