Mueller Verena M, Forrer Felicitas, Meyer Andrea H, Munsch Simone
Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Department of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Institute of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2024 Jan 8;14:1269364. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1269364. eCollection 2023.
It is well known that young individuals often report pronounced negative perceptions and attitudes towards their own body or intense fear of being not muscular enough. There is much less data available, however, on the role of psychological mechanisms on these perceptions and attitudes, such as emotion regulation difficulties, correlates of alexithymia, and appearance-related rejection sensitivity.
We therefore set out to assess associations between these psychological mechanisms, and body image as well as muscle dysmorphic symptoms. Our sample was recruited as part of a larger-scale study aiming at assessing correlates of mental health (with a focus on eating disorder symptoms) in German speaking Switzerland. The first wave (T1), starting in April 2021, included 605 participants (80% female, 19.6 ± 2.5 years) who completed the online-questionnaire and were reassessed in a second wave (T2), one year later.
Results indicated that at both waves, emotion regulation difficulties [DERS-SF] and appearance-based rejection sensitivity [ARS-D] were both positively cross-sectionally associated with body dissatisfaction [BSQ-8C] and muscle dysmorphic symptoms [MDDI] at the first assessment time-point and one year later at follow-up assessment. Moreover, alexithymia [TAS-20] was positively cross-sectionally associated with muscle dysmorphic symptoms at both waves. We further observed high absolute and relative level stabilities for all variables involved across the one-year study period.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Even though the effects for some associations were rather small, our findings underline the relevance of such mechanisms in the development of body dissatisfaction and to a lesser extent of muscle dysmorphia symptoms over the period of one year. Additional research is necessary to replicate these findings in other youth samples.
众所周知，年轻人经常对自己的身体表现出明显的负面看法和态度，或者极度害怕自己不够强壮。然而，关于心理机制在这些看法和态度中所起的作用，例如情绪调节困难、述情障碍的相关因素以及外表相关的拒绝敏感性，可用的数据要少得多。
因此，我们着手评估这些心理机制与身体意象以及肌肉畸形症状之间的关联。我们的样本是作为一项更大规模研究的一部分招募的，该研究旨在评估瑞士德语区心理健康的相关因素（重点是饮食失调症状）。第一波（T1）从2021年4月开始，包括605名参与者（80%为女性，年龄19.6±2.5岁），他们完成了在线问卷，并在一年后的第二波（T2）中接受重新评估。
结果表明，在两波评估中，情绪调节困难[DERS-SF]和基于外表的拒绝敏感性[ARS-D]在首次评估时间点以及一年后的随访评估中，均与身体不满[BSQ-8C]和肌肉畸形症状[MDDI]呈正相关。此外，述情障碍[TAS-20]在两波评估中均与肌肉畸形症状呈正相关。我们还观察到，在为期一年的研究期间，所有涉及的变量都具有较高的绝对和相对水平稳定性。
讨论/结论：尽管某些关联的影响相当小，但我们的研究结果强调了这些机制在身体不满发展过程中的相关性，以及在较小程度上对一年期间肌肉畸形症状的相关性。有必要进行更多研究，在其他青年样本中复制这些发现。
