Introduction: The goal of the present study was to identify the prospective relations between weight/shape and muscularity concerns and emotional problems in adolescents.
Methods: Self-report data of 966 German male and female adolescents were analyzed in a cross-lagged panel design.
Results: Analyses of latent means revealed significant correlations between weight/shape concern and emotional problems as well as between muscularity concern and emotional problems in both genders. Moreover, weight/shape concern predicted emotional problems prospectively, but only in girls. Regarding muscularity concern, we could not find any prospective relation with emotional problems in boys or girls from the general population.
Conclusions: It is assumed that as appearance is highly relevant for the self-concept in girls, concerns about the look might promote emotional problems. Thus, weight/shape concern should be addressed in the prevention of emotional problems in adolescent girls, whereas further research is necessary investigating the contribution of muscularity concern in this context.
Keywords: Adolescents; Cross-lagged panel analysis; Depressive symptoms; Muscularity concern; Weight/shape concern.
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