Body image and maladaptive eating behaviors in Chinese early adolescents: a latent profile analysis
Abstract
Background Body image undergoes significant changes during early adolescence, yet empirical evidence on how the combination of negative and positive body image in this stage relates to maladaptive eating behaviors remains limited. To address this, employing a person-centered approach, this study aimed to identify distinct profiles of body image and to explore the relationships between profile membership, gender, body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic status (SES), and maladaptive eating behaviors among Chinese early adolescents. Methods Using indicators from three dimensions of positive body image (i.e., body self-appreciation, body other-appreciation, resilience against negative appearance feedback) and negative body image (i.e., body dissatisfaction), latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted with a sample of 1,248 junior high school students (aged 12–15 years, M = 13.42, SD = 1.03; 50.4% boys) from Heilongjiang Province, China. Results Three distinct body image profiles were identified: the Positive Body Image Group (66.59%), the Body Other-Appreciation Dominant Group (23.88%), and the Moderate Body Image Group (9.54%). Gender and BMI significantly predicted profile membership, whereas SES did not. Regarding maladaptive eating behaviors, both the Body Other-Appreciation Dominant Group and the Moderate Body Image Group reported significantly higher levels of restrained eating than the Positive Body Image Group. The Moderate Body Image Group also reported significantly higher levels of emotional eating compared with the Positive Body Image Group. No significant differences were found in external eating among the three profiles. Conclusion Early adolescents' body image profiles exhibit significant heterogeneity, with distinct patterns of association with maladaptive eating behaviors across profiles. Accordingly, interventions should consider gender and body mass index and be tailored to the characteristics of each profile to improve body image and eating behaviors.