Report on Childhood Obesity in China (5) Body Weight, Body Dissatisfaction, and Depression Symptoms of Chinese Children Aged 9-10 Years

Objective To investigate the relationship between body weight, body dissatisfaction and depression symptoms among Chinese children. Methods The fasting body weight and height of the third and fourth grade students （n=3886, aged 9 or 10 years） from 20 schools in Beijing, China, were measured, and the students were asked to choose the figures of body image and to complete the self-reported children＇s depression inventory （CDI） questionnaire. Results The CDI Cronbach＇s alpha was 0.81. The total CDI score was 9.60±7.50, 13.2% of children （boys 16.7% vs girls 9.5%） were at risk of developing depression symptoms. Overweight girls, but not boys, had significantly higher total CDI score than their normal weight counteparts. Both obese girls and boys showed a higher negative self-esteem score. More than one fifth underweight girls still wanted to be thinner while more than one third obese boys still wanted to be heavier. Children who wanted to be thinner showed slightly higher scores of ineffectiveness and negative self-esteem. After introducing the body dissatisfaction into the model, overweight was still associated with total CDI score among girls and obesity was still associated with negative self-esteem among both boys and girls. Conclusion Overweight girls show a significantly higher depression symptom score than their normal weight counterparts, which maybe partially explained by body dissatisfaction. Obese boys and girls are both more likely to suffer from low self-esteem, which is partially explained by body dissatisfaction.

Social Media and Its Impact on Chinese’s Women Body Image:The Effects of Body Comparison and Motivation for Social Media Use

Social media ingrain in the lives of countless individuals in the world.With adolescents,particularly young women being the primary users of social media platforms,the question is whether social media use has an impact on their self-esteem,body dissatisfaction,body image,and self-concept.In social media,people can easily find many“perfect”body photos,and people in real life tend to believe that is the“ideal”body and develop negative influence and views on their own body.This exploratory study will conduct through the hypothesis that women develop negative body image after viewing the perfect body images promoted by social media with further experiments.

Impacts of Social Media Use

Purposes:This study explores the impact of the influence mechanism of social media on female college students’body dissatisfaction in China and the neglected factors which are not involved in the dominating theoretical framework in this field.Methods:The study adopts a qualitative,in-depth interview method.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 female college students who were concerned about their weight and figures in an attempt to understand their social media use and their perceptions of their body shapes.Findings:Internalization of the thin-ideal,perceived discrepancy,and appearance comparison moderate the relationship between social media use and female college students’body dissatisfaction.Participants exposed to social media tend to internalize the thin-ideal,perceive a discrepancy between their actual body shape and the thin-ideal,and make appearance comparisons,particularly with their peers;subsequently,these students experience body dissatisfaction.Conclusions:The ideal image of thinness that is promoted and diffused by social media creates a strict standard for females.Female college students are likely to suffer from body dissatisfaction the more they consume certain types of social media.Due to the interactive and virtual quality of social networking platforms,peers play a unique role in the influence mechanism,which is not present in traditional forms of mass media.

Analysis of the Effects of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Methods to Decrease Body Image Dissatisfaction among Young Women during 2015-2020 and A Research Protocol

Background:Body image dissatisfaction(BID)has garnered global attention.It is significantly correlated with the development of depression,anxiety,eating disorders(EDs)and low self-esteem.BID is increasingly common among adolescents and young women in China,whereas it lacks the effective treatment and prevention programs for BID.Objective:This paper expects to analyze the effective CAMs methods on improving BID,and based on the results,we put forward a feasible and effective study protocol to fill the gap of BID improvement among teenage girls.Methods:Fifty-two studies of CAM in 2015-2020 years in influencing body image and its correlates are col-lected and analyzed,and a study protocol combined“In Favor of Myself”is sent up.This study protocol adds praise,psychological counselling,nutrition education and yoga to the project“In Favor of Myself”,improving BID through group support,shifting attention from focusing on one’s physical appearance to enhancing one’s value,and alleviating pressure and emotions through yoga.Results:Many methods,such as fitness training,psychoeducation,nutritional therapy,music therapy,health promotion programs and internet-based interventions are considered the existing interventions to improve BID.Other CAMs,such as acupuncture,beauty care,Tai chi,and aromatherapy,could be tried in the improvement of BID in further studies.Conclusion:CAM is capable of subjectively changing feelings of bodies,adjusting their cognition of body image,enhancing the body-mind connection,improving self-esteem and relieving negative emotions,but the efficacy and mechanism of CAM working on BID still need more systematic and standardized research.