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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.
Body dissatisfaction has been rising among young people over recent decades and is linked to later depression and eating disorders. Prior research using BMI has suggested weight relates to body dissatisfaction differently in girls and boys, but BMI cannot distinguish fat mass from fat-free mass, which includes muscle, bone and other tissues. Fat mass and fat-free mass may relate to dissatisfaction differently than BMI, particularly given the social desirability of muscularity in boys.
Researchers used data from 13,025 participants in the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study, which provided measurements of height and weight from age 3, and body composition from ages 7 to 14. For the new analysis, children were grouped into low, moderate and high trajectories of BMI, fat mass index and fat-free mass index based on that data. At age 14, body dissatisfaction was measured using a self-reported questionnaire.
73), and no evidence these associations differed by sex.
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