Associations Among Parent-Adolescent Relationships, Pubertal Growth, Dieting, and Body Image in Young Adolescent Girls: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This investigation examined the degree to which pubertal development and parent-adolescent relationships were associated with girls' current and future dieting and body image. Via longitudinal path models, we also separately tested the possibility of bidirectional effects between parental relationships and dieting and parental relationships and body image. Early adolescent girls (N = 127) who were predominantly of normal weight, were seen for 2 consecutive years (M = 12.19 and M = 13.15 years), completed measures assessing their dieting, body image, and relationships with their parents, and had their weights and heights measured. Mothers rated their daughters' pubertal growth by indicating their daughters' level of breast development using the Tanner rating system. Results indicate that girls' perceptions of their relationships with their parents were associated with their dieting attitudes and behaviors, and body image at Time 1 and Time 2. Body mass (kg/m2) was only associated in the concurrent regression models. Potential bidirectional effects between parental relationships and dieting or body image revealed significant longitudinal direct effects from parental relationships to dieting and to body image. Findings indicate that for this sample of White, middle-class, young adolescent girls, it appears that negative parent-adolescent relationships are linked to higher diet scores over the 1-year period; however, higher dieting scores are not linked to deteriorating family relationships over time.

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