Depression and Body Image Satisfaction

Abstract

The relationship between depression and body-image satisfaction in different ethnic groups was investigated by comparing depressed and nondepressed males and females from Caucasian-American, Chinese-American, and Japanese-American college samples. It was hypothesized that depressed respondents would manifest significantly higher levels of body-image dissatisfaction than nondepressed respondents, regardless of ethnicity and gender. The results supported the hypothesis. As a function of the depression condition, however, there are numerous ethnic and gender differences with regard to dissatisfaction with specific body parts (e.g., increased "facial" and "physique" dissatisfaction for depressed Chinese-American females). Depression, it seems, exacerbates levels of existing body-image dissatisfaction for some groups, introduces new areas of body-image dissatisfaction for others, and does not alter the image for yet others. It was further noted that research in this area could help improve our understanding about the etiology and expression of depression.