Self-esteem in girls aged 11-12: baseline findings from a planned prospective study of vulnerability to eating disorders.

The paper reports on the first stage of a planned prospective study of self-esteem and risk for eating disorders in 594 schoolgirls aged 11-12. Subjects completed a short questionnaire which incorporated the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and a few "problem" questions, including one on fatness concern. Low self-esteem was associated with increased fatness concern, but also with problems in general. The girls will be followed up in detail at age 15-16, with a view to clarifying whether low self-esteem is predictive of clinically significant eating disorders.