Ehlinger Peter P, Blashill Aaron J
Massachusetts General Hospital, USA.
San Diego State University, USA; SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, USA.
J Affect Disord. 2016 Jan 1;189:70-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.08.071. Epub 2015 Sep 16.
A commonly held belief about physical attractiveness is that attractive individuals are psychologically healthier than less attractive individuals (i.e., the "beauty is good" stereotype). To date, the data on this stereotype and its relationship with depression is limited, with a paucity of literature comparing subjective and objective appearance evaluations and depressive symptoms. Additionally, there is no known research on this relationship among sexual minorities (i.e., gay and bisexual individuals), a highly vulnerable population. The primary aims of the study were to assess the prediction of depression symptoms by subjective and objective appearance evaluation, and secondary aims were to assess the interaction of subjective and objective appearance with sexual orientation.
Participants were 4882 American emerging adults (M age=22 years; 2253 males, 2629 females) taken from a U.S. nationally representative dataset (Add Health)
Increased negative subjective appearance evaluation was associated with elevated rates of depressive symptoms (B=-.27, p<.001), while objective appearance evaluation was not significantly related to depressive symptoms. Sexual orientation significantly moderated the relationship between subjective appearance and depression (B=.19, p=.009), with a stronger positive association between negative appearance evaluation and depressive symptoms noted among sexual minority vs. heterosexual participants.
Limitations include cross-sectional design and self-report nature of questionnaires.
Findings suggest that the 'beauty is good' stereotype may not be valid in regard to depressive symptoms, and that subjective appearance evaluation is a robust predictor of depression, particularly for sexual minority individuals.
关于外表吸引力，人们普遍认为有吸引力的个体在心理上比缺乏吸引力的个体更健康（即“美即好”刻板印象）。迄今为止，关于这一刻板印象及其与抑郁症关系的数据有限，比较主观和客观外表评价与抑郁症状的文献很少。此外，对于性少数群体（即男同性恋者和双性恋者）这一高度脆弱的群体，尚无关于这种关系的已知研究。本研究的主要目的是评估主观和客观外表评价对抑郁症状的预测作用，次要目的是评估主观和客观外表与性取向的相互作用。
参与者为4882名美国新兴成年人（平均年龄 = 22岁；男性2253名，女性2629名），数据来自美国具有全国代表性的数据集（青少年健康纵向研究）。
负面主观外表评价的增加与抑郁症状发生率升高相关（B = -0.27，p <.001），而客观外表评价与抑郁症状无显著关联。性取向显著调节了主观外表与抑郁之间的关系（B = 0.19，p = 0.009），性少数群体参与者中负面外表评价与抑郁症状之间的正相关关系比异性恋参与者更强。
局限性包括横断面设计和问卷的自我报告性质。
研究结果表明，“美即好”刻板印象在抑郁症状方面可能无效，主观外表评价是抑郁的有力预测指标，尤其是对性少数群体个体而言。
