Davies Kellock, Madelaine;
(2024)
Investigating the longitudinal association of body composition and body image in young people, and its implications for mental health and obesity policy in the UK.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Body image concerns are a potentially modifiable mechanism that may explain why young people with higher weights experience greater depressive symptoms. However, there is a lack of evidence from longitudinal, nationally representative studies that investigates body image concerns and its risk factors in childhood. Further knowledge will help in development of interventions aimed at improving mental health. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative study of around 19,000 children born around the millennium, this thesis aimed to first investigate whether there are distinct childhood trajectories of adiposity (FMI and FM/FFM) and a proxy for muscularity (FFMI) using latent class growth analysis. Regression modelling was then used to investigate whether adiposity and muscularity trajectories are differentially associated with body image concerns in adolescence. Causal mediation analyses investigated the extent to which body satisfaction in early adolescence mediates the association between childhood weight trajectory and depressive symptoms in later adolescence. Finally, multilevel models were used to investigate whether parental concern about their child’s weight, and control of their child’s diet, at age 5 were associated with BMI and body satisfaction across adolescence. Distinct trajectories of adiposity and a proxy for muscularity were observed up to age 14. There was some evidence that adiposity and muscularity trajectories were differentially associated with adolescent body image concerns. Almost half of the association between weight trajectory and depressive symptom was mediated by body satisfaction in early adolescence. Parental control of their child’s diet, which is a common response to a public health strategy aimed at reducing childhood overweight, was not associated with substantial changes in BMI across adolescence but was associated with lower body satisfaction scores. These findings suggest that current obesity policies in the UK may be contributing to increasing levels of mental ill-health in young people.
Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
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Qualification: | Ph.D |
Title: | Investigating the longitudinal association of body composition and body image in young people, and its implications for mental health and obesity policy in the UK |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Epidemiology and Applied Clinical Research |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198532 |
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