The weight perceptions literature offers a simple explanation for null associations between adolescent overweight and depressive symptoms: consequences of sociocultural ideals about weight and weight stigma operate through weight perceptions, not actual weight. Further, there is variation in how individuals process body weight to arrive at weight perceptions ( Markus, Hamill, and Sentis 1987). 2000) and are linked to adolescents’ body image. Self-schemas organize how adolescents process and respond emotionally to their weight ( Pesa et al. Weight perceptions are powerful self-schemas, or views and beliefs about the self resulting from prevailing norms, social experiences, and cultural values ( Markus 1977). This finding supports work suggesting that underweight is stigmatizing for boys, who are expected to maintain larger builds and masculine ideals of muscularity ( Harmatz, Gronendyke, and Thomas 1985). Theoretically, weight stigma should lead to depression, withdrawal, and diminished self-worth among overweight and obese adolescents ( Puhl and Brownell 2003), but little evidence links either overweight or obesity to adolescent depressive symptoms ( Wardle and Cooke 2005).Ĭonversely, underweight predicts depressive symptoms among adolescent boys ( Frisco et al. The discrimination and marginalization of heavy adolescents has led scholars to examine the mental health consequences of weight.
Overweight adolescents are seen as unhealthy, ugly, lazy, dirty and stupid ( Crandall and Schiffhauer 1998) and people are biased against befriending obese persons ( Latner, Stunkard, and Wilson 2005 Richardson et al. Overweight and obesity are negative clinical statuses that are also stigmatized physical and social statuses ( Dejong 1980 Puhl and Brownell 2003).
1 They account for age- and sex-specific growth and are constructed using guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2003). In survey research, clinical weight categories indicating adolescent underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity are usually derived from body mass index (BMI) percentiles that are based on height and weight data. We draw from both theories to develop and test competing explanations about whether and how the intersection of the two matter and to offer insight into whether these theories are useful for understanding links between adolescent physical and mental health outcomes.ĪCTUAL WEIGHT, WEIGHT PERCEPTIONS, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS Theories of double jeopardy and health congruency offer distinct explanations about why the (mis)match of weight and weight perceptions may predict adolescent depressive symptoms. Adolescents simultaneously grapple with numbers on their scales and images in their mirrors. We argue that actual and perceived weight should not be treated as competing factors predicting depressive symptoms. The take-home message from these research strands is that weight perceptions matter more than actual weight for predicting adolescent depressive symptoms. Conversely, weight perceptions are associated with depressive symptoms even after controlling for actual weight and other confounders (e.g., Daniels 2005 Pesa et al. Results suggest that actual weight is largely unrelated to depressive symptoms (especially in national samples) (see Wardle and Cooke 2005 for a review), except for adolescent subgroups such as younger teens ( Needham and Crosnoe 2005) or racial/ethnic minorities ( Frisco, Houle, and Martin 2009). 2005) or weight perceptions (e.g., Daniels 2005 Pesa, Syre, and Jones 2000) for depressive symptoms. Instead, two separate research strands focus on consequences of either actual weight (e.g., Needham and Crosnoe 2005 Swallen et al. Research has not examined whether mismatched weight and weight perceptions are distressing for adolescents. Thus, it is unsurprising that roughly one-third of adolescents inaccurately perceive their weight, with more under- versus overestimating it ( Martin, Frisco, and May 2009). The media, weight loss industries, and weight-related public health campaigns encourage them to maintain slender frames while fat acceptance movements and healthy body image programs encourage them to love their bodies regardless of shape. American adolescents receive mixed messages about weight.