The Effects of Weight and Achievement Messages on the Self-Esteem of Women

We examined whether priming achievement causes lower self-esteem and more negative mood in women who believe they are overweight and 0whether it does so by increasing women's dissatisfaction with their bodies or with their performance. Thirty-five self-perceived overweight women and 43 self-perceived normal weight women participated in the experiment. Half of the women read a message stressing the importance of achievement pursuits, and the other half read a message stressing the importance of nonachievement pursuits. All women then completed a measure of global self-esteem, read a message about the negative effects of being overweight, and completed several dependent measures. Controlling for initial self-esteem, overweight women who read the achievement prime had lower mood and global self-esteem and lower performance self-esteem but not lower appearance self-esteem or greater body dissatisfaction when compared to the overweight women who read the nonachievement prime and the normal weight women regardless of prime type.     

Psychosocial and health consequences of adolescent depression in Black and White young adult women.

Depression in adolescent girls may result in negative consequences in young adulthood. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered to 1,727 Black and White girls ages 16 to 18 years who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Growth and Health Study. Three years later, women in the depressed groups were more likely to be current smokers, had attained a lower level of education, and reported lower self-worth relative to the nondepressed group. Body dissatisfaction, eating concerns, and loneliness were greater in the depressed groups. Relative to Black women, White women who were moderately depressed during adolescence reported more health care services utilization in young adulthood. Prevention efforts for depressed adolescents should be broadly focused to improve young adult outcomes.