Does the Gender-Additive Model of Depression Apply? An Examination of Body-Image Related Risk Factors in Early Adolescent Boys and Girls

The present study examined body-image components of the gender-additive model of depression and tested whether these mediational processes were significant for boys as well as girls. Early adolescents (73 boys, 91 girls) completed well-developed self-report measures of depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, self-esteem, and pubertal development. Their height and weight were also measured. The structural equation modeling approach to path analysis was used to test the mediation models. The results indicated that for girls, self-esteem mediated the relation between thin ideal and depressive symptoms, and for boys, both self-esteem and body dissatisfaction mediated the relation between thin-ideal internalization and depressive symptoms. Body dissatisfaction did not completely mediate the relation between body mass and depressive symptoms for boys or girls. These models were also examined with self-esteem as a proxy-dependent variable for depressive symptoms. Our findings indicated that there were gender similarities in the mediational processes proposed by the gender-additive model.