Self-image among early adolescents: revisited

Relationship Between Weight Status and Self-Image Mediated by Pubertal Timing and Athletic Competence: A Cohort Study With Taiwanese Adolescents

Background

Self-image reflects overall self-acceptance in developing adolescents. Using a representative cohort of Taiwanese youth, this study aims to explore the relationship between weight status, pubertal timing, athletic competence, and adolescent self-image.

Methods

Data come from the Taiwan Youth Project that comprised a longitudinal cohort of adolescents (N = 2690, 51% males, Mage = 13.3 ± 0.5 years) surveyed annually from seventh grade. Self-image was measured by perceived satisfaction with appearance and physique. Weight status was proxied by self-reported body mass index (BMI; kg/m2). Pubertal timing was defined using the Pubertal Developmental Scale, which mainly measured physical changes in puberty. Athletic competence was assessed by experiences with participation in competitive sports and self-perceived talent for sports. Linear regression analysis was applied to test for an association between BMI and self-image. In order to test for mediating roles of pubertal timing and athletic competence, Hayes' PROCESS macro on SPSS was conducted applying 5,000 bootstrap resamples with 95% confidence intervals of the indirect effect.

Results

BMI was inversely associated with self-image in both males (β = -0.074, [-0.095, -0.053]) and females (β = -0.095, [-0.122, -0.069]). The boot-strapped 95% confidence intervals indicated statistically significant mediating effects of pubertal timing (β = -0.008, [-0.015, -0.001]) and athletic competence (β = -0.006, [-0.011, -0.002]) in the link between BMI and self-image in females, whilst only athletic competence mediated this association (β = -0.006, [-0.009, -0.002]) in males. Moreover, BMI at baseline were also associated with long-term self-image in males (β = -0.037, [-0.057, -0.017]) and females (β = 0.132, [0.073, 0.190]).

Conclusions

Understanding the mediating factors may help enhance adolescents' self-image by providing guidance on healthy weight and physical activity behaviors according to different stages of pubertal progression.

Associations between the coping self in adolescence and mental health in early adulthood

PROBLEM

We have insufficient knowledge of the factors that should be considered when attempting to promote the mental health of adolescents, and whether the coping self during adolescence is indicative of mental health in later life.

METHODS

Coping self data were collected in 1996 from 14-year-old pupils (N= 249) using part of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. Mental health data were collected in 2006 from the same persons at the age of 24 years, using the Symptom Checklist-90 instrument, with a response rate of 64.0% (n= 159).

FINDINGS

Feelings of adolescents related to poor emotional health including fear, shame, guilt, and low trust were associated with depression in women and interpersonal symptoms in men in early adulthood. In addition, feelings of a lack of mastery in adolescence were associated with psychotic symptoms in women and interpersonal symptoms in men in early adulthood.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents' perceptions of their emotional health and mastery are important factors to consider in attempts to promote mental health.

Accessing young adolescents and their families for research

PURPOSE

To describe the strategies used to obtain and retain a sample of young adolescents and their families.

METHODS

The sample was 847 families with young adolescents aged 11 to 14 years who resided in a large urban Midwestern community of the U.S. The first design strategy was becoming credible within the community. For 5 years before conducting the intervention research in the community, surveys were conducted of the needs of middle-school students as they entered adolescence, and programs were delivered to meet the assessed needs. The second design strategy was instituting developmentally appropriate recruitment and retention strategies based upon direct consultation with groups of young adolescents. The consultants recommended referring to young adolescents as young adults and holding the training sessions in sites not associated with schools. The third design strategy was setting up participation methods that were nonburdensome to schools and families.

CONCLUSIONS

The successful recruitment of over 800 families and the retention of 80% of them for survey participation and 77% of them for the intervention protocol can be attributed to three major strategies: (a) community involvement; (b) adherence to principles of adolescent development; and (c) ease of participation for school personnel and families.

Health-promoting behaviors of rural adolescent women

A part of a larger study of the health behaviors of adolescent women, this investigation examined health-promoting behaviors and the influence of cognitive, social, and environmental factors on these health-promoting behaviors of rural adolescent women. The sample consisted of 128 rural African-American and white adolescent women. Forty-four percent of the variance in health-promoting behavior of this sample was explained by five variables: self-image, problem solving, mother's education, employment status, and family structure. Self-image was the most salient predictor of health-promoting behavior, explaining 33% of the variance.

Self-image and people with learning disabilities

Self-image arises from a complex interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This article explores the importance of people with a learning disability attaining a positive self-image. It discusses the effect of society's perception of people with learning disabilities, and questions the willingness of the community to accept such people in a non-judgmental way. It argues that staff caring for this client group have a vital role to play in how people with learning disabilities are perceived by others and discusses the effects that a market philosophy (Fromm, 1978) and the popular media have on society regarding people with learning disabilities. Self-worth is important to everyone; however, the article concludes that a person with a learning disability is seriously disadvantaged in this respect. This aspect of care therefore requires insight, support and skills on the part of those healthcare professionals caring for this client group.

Living with ulcerative colitis: experiences of adolescents and young adults

The problems associated with ulcerative colitis and its treatment have effects on adolescents and young adults dissimilar from as well as more profound than those on older individuals. Adolescents are confronted with problems such as biological, psychological and social changes as well as role changes related to peers and family. This inductive study aimed to describe the adolescents' experiences of living with ulcerative colitis. A total of 28 subjects were asked about their experiences both at the present time and at the time their first symptoms appeared. Verbatim transcribed thematized interviews were analysed according to a method influenced by the constant comparative method for grounded theory. Eight categories were grounded in the data, forming a model which describes the process from onset of disease to present time. The main variable identified was: reduced living space, a strategy to manage the new situation. Dependent on the reactions received from significant others, the outcome for the adolescents hovered between feelings of self-confidence and lack of self-confidence. If the adolescents experienced support, the living space was expanded again. The results might be of great value when caring for and assisting young persons with a chronic disease in general, and in particular when taking care of adolescents with a recently diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease.