Teen Boys Insecure About Their Looks Far More Likely to Battle Depression as Adults Than Girls

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Boys who are insecure about their looks as teenagers are almost three times more likely to suffer from severe depression as adults, a recent study warns.

The study by researchers at Erasmus University in The Netherlands tracked 4,000 teenagers for several years. Researchers found that young men are a staggering 285 percent more likely to have a severe depressive episode if they were unhappy with their bodies as teens.

Their female counterparts were also affected, but were 84 percent more likely to suffer the same problems if they had been insecure about their appearance. Well over half of teens, 61 percent, experience body dissatisfaction, putting them at risk of developing eating disorders, unhealthy behaviors, and poor mental health.

“It is possible that in the era of social media and increasing pressures on body ideals, male adolescents have also become sensitive to idealized body image pressures, which may translate into later depressive episodes,” the authors write.

The study is published in The Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/teen-boys-insecure-body-image-depression-girls/