Article Critique : Psychological Status and Weight-Related Distress

Section 1

This article was written by four American scholars ( Ellen M. Granberg, Ronald L. Simons, Frederick X. Gibbons and Janet Nieuwsma Melby) and published in the recent months in Youth and Society.

In this article, the authors are following the recent researches on the relation between body weight increase and depression among adolescent females, but focus only on African- American teenagers.

Indeed, African- American adolescent girls are believed to be more satisfied with their bodies and thus to be more immune from depression as a result of weight concerns because they have a strong social and cultural support in their family and neighborhood.

To confirm or reject this belief, the authors assessed 343 African American girls ages 12 to 14, and found a relationship between recent weight gain and depression. Indeed, 78% of adolescent girls reported a weight gain, and all but 28% reported at least three symptoms of depression due to this weight gain (resulting to a correlation coefficient of .214). As predicted, parents' influence had an influence on this relationship, but it wasn't as strong as thought, being only a reducer of depression but not a protection against it. Correlations between depression and the variables composing ethnicity and African- American culture failed to show that a strong African American identity or involvement in African American culture reduces the association between body size or weight gain and depression.

Section 2

The article's goal is to investigate wether overweight Afro- American girls are prone to be depressed. The assumption is that they are, based on several studies. The textbook (p. 529) gives us more reasons to believe there will be a relationship. Indeed, it states that adolescent females tend to ruminate in their depressed mood and amplify it, and that their self image (especially their body images) tend to be negative and discriminating.

The article's authors link low self-esteem in adolescent girls and depression, occurring when girls develop an interest in the opposite sex and face rejection because of their weight. Indeed, researches have shown that adolescence makes bodily appearance more salient and that bodily image is related to self- esteem.

As we have seen in class and in the textbook (p. 175 - 176), social contexts (family, peers, and school ) contributes to the development of an adolescent's self- esteem (Dusek & McIntyre, 2003 in Santrock, A.). What's more, Fenzel (1994 in Santrock, A.) showed that low self- esteem is implicated in depression and other adjustment problems and is related to social and family contexts.

Indeed, the authors' assume and their findings prove that a positive, supportive and warm family relationship decrease overweight African- American girls' vulnerability to depression.

The textbook support these findings : for example, Steinberg & Silk ( 2002 in Santrock, A.) have found that authoritative parenting encourages adolescents to be independent but still places limits and control on their actions (Rueter & Conger, 1995 in Santrock, A.), is characterized by extensive verbal exchange and a warm relationship (Kuczynski & Lollis, 2002 in Santrock, A.), and make adolescents socially competent and self reliant.

The study's subjects were Afro- American girls because they are more prone to obesity, and that they have a stronger ethnic and cultural support. The authors thought that this support could decrease the relationship between weight problems and depression, but the research proved otherwise. When reading the textbook

(p. 183 - 185), we can think that a strong African- American identity would decrease the rate of low self- esteem and depression. Indeed, Phinney (1997, in Santrock, A.) found that high level of ethnic identity is linked to positive attitudes, and Fridirch & Flannery (1995, in Santrock, A.) emphasized that positive ratings of ethnic identity are related to fewer problematic behavior in African- American and Latino adolescents (Fridirch & Flannery, 1995).

Section 3

There were no limitations to this study because it pursued the previous studies about the relationship between weight gain and depression by studying only the Afro- American community.

But it would have been interesting to compare, for example, the differences between overweight Afro- American boys and girls in relation with depression, or between different ethnic groups. It would also have been interesting to compare age groups in Afro- American girls to see if the relationship lasts.

Section 4

The findings didn't really