Higher childhood BMI associated with greater body dissatisfaction at age 14 in both boys and girls
Children who follow higher trajectories of body mass index (BMI) and fat mass index across childhood report greater body dissatisfaction at age 14, in both boys and girls, according to a new study published in PLOS One by Dr. Madelaine Davies Kellock, a research fellow at University College London, U.K., and colleagues.
A new study published in the journal PLOS One reveals that children with higher body mass index (BMI) and fat mass index trajectories from childhood are more likely to report greater body dissatisfaction at age 14, regardless of gender. Dr. Madelaine Davies Kellock and her team from University College London analyzed data from 13,025 participants in the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study, which included measurements of height, weight, and body composition starting at age 3 and continuing until age 14.
Children were categorized into low, moderate, and high trajectories based on their BMI, fat mass index, and fat-free mass index.
The researchers measured body dissatisfaction using a self-reported questionnaire at age 14. They found that children with moderate or high BMI trajectories had higher dissatisfaction scores than those with low trajectories, with an adjusted mean difference of 0.32 and 0.71 on a 0-6 scale. Similar results were observed for fat mass index, with adjusted mean differences of 0.33 and 0.73, respectively.
However, the association with fat-free mass index was more complex, with boys having higher dissatisfaction scores when their fat-free mass index was high (adjusted mean difference of 0.31), and girls showing an even stronger association (0.36 for moderate and 0.79 for high fat-free mass index).
The study's authors acknowledged that these findings are observational and therefore cannot establish a causal relationship between body composition and body dissatisfaction. Additionally, the measurement of body dissatisfaction relied on a single question, and children from more disadvantaged families were more likely to have missing data.
Despite these limitations, the authors suggest that their findings could inform strategies to address body dissatisfaction among adolescents, as it is often perceived as a more prevalent issue in girls. The researchers also noted that their results regarding fat-free mass index were unexpected, as they did not find a lower association in boys, which may indicate that certain aspects of fat-free mass, such as muscle mass, could be less of a risk factor for body dissatisfaction in boys.
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