Positive Body Image in Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Identity and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Developmental research has mostly focused on negative body image, somewhat neglecting the role positive body image plays in adolescent development. To fill this gap, the present longitudinal study investigated the directionality of effects among positive body image, identity, and eating disorder symptoms across one year. Two waves of data were collected from a sample of 915 high school students in Flanders (T1: 60% female; M_age = 16.17; SD = 1.28; range 14-19). First, a novel, four-factor scale of adolescent positive body image was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. Second, cross-lagged models revealed body self-appreciation to be a crucial factor of positive body image, which positively predicted identity synthesis and negatively predicted identity confusion and eating disorder symptoms over time. Contrary to expectations, resilience against media body ideals was predicted by maladaptive identity dimensions. The study highlights the importance of positive body image, advancing knowledge about its associations with developmental challenges of identity formation and with eating disorder symptoms faced by adolescents.