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Body weight and body dissatisfaction among Chinese adolescents: Mediating and moderating roles of weight-related teasing

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Abstract

The current study examined the roles of weight-related teasing in the relationship between body weight (body mass index, BMI) and body dissatisfaction in boys and girls. Participants were 711 adolescents recruited from secondary schools in China. They completed self-report questionnaires designed to assess weight-related teasing and body dissatisfaction. Participants’ BMIs were derived from their measured weights and heights. Weight-related teasing was found to play two roles in the relationship between body weight and body dissatisfaction. Specifically, weight-related teasing mediated the path from BMI to body dissatisfaction partially in girls and fully in boys. Weight-related teasing had a moderating effect on the relationship between BMI and body dissatisfaction in girls; this moderating effect was not significant in boys. Adolescents with higher BMIs tend to have higher levels of body dissatisfaction, and this association may be mediated and moderated by weight-related teasing. Interventions targeting body dissatisfaction among overweight and obese adolescents could be attentive to weight-related teasing.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China on Education Research Project for Young Scholars (CLA160199), which was awarded to Chen Gui, the paper’s first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Educational Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, 421002, China

    Gui Chen

  2. School of Humanities and Social Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, 518172, China

    Jinbo He & Xitao Fan

  3. The Department of Applied Psychology, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, 410208, China

    Bin Zhang

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  1. Gui Chen
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Correspondence to Jinbo He.

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Ethical Statement

All procedures and questionnaires used in the current study were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Hengyang Normal University. Students’ and their parents’ written consent forms were also obtained.

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Chen, G., He, J., Zhang, B. et al. Body weight and body dissatisfaction among Chinese adolescents: Mediating and moderating roles of weight-related teasing. Curr Psychol 41, 298–306 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00572-8

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