The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of
body image dissatisfaction on symptoms of
depressive disorder in
adolescents. This is a
cross-sectional study that included 2,162
adolescents ages 18-19 born in São Luís, Maranhão,
Brazil, which was part of the
joint RPS cohort (Brazilian
birth cohorts of Ribeirão Preto-SP, Pelotas-RS, and São Luís-MA). Socioeconomic characteristics,
nutritional status,
mental health, and
body image characteristics were evaluated.
Body image was assessed by Stunkard's silhouettes scale. The presence of symptoms indicative of
depressive disorder was investigated through a diagnostic
interview MINI (
Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview). A
theoretical model was built in a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in order to investigate the relationship between the variables of the study. The relationship was estimated weighting the inverse
probability of selection for the variables of
adjustment sex and
nutritional status. Among the dissatisfied
adolescents due to
overweight, 66.54% were
girls, 32.85% were
overweight, and 11.99% were obese (P<0.01). There was a significant
association between dissatisfaction due to
overweight and symptoms of
depressive disorder (P=0.01), and there was no evidence of the same
association with dissatisfaction due to
thinness. Therefore, only dissatisfaction due to
overweight was associated with the symptoms of
depressive disorder in the evaluated
adolescents.