The prospective associations between bullying experiences, body image shame and disordered eating in a sample of adolescent girls

Objective: The current analysed the prospective effect of bullying on body image shame and disordered eating symptomatology in adolescent girls. Method: The study was conducted with 290 adolescent girls, and involved three waves of data collection assessing over time victimization experiences, body image shame and disordered eating symptomatology. At the beginning of the study, the participants average age was 13.73 years (SD = 0.78). Latent growth models were used to fit the data to identify the effect of bullying on the outcomes. Path analysis examined the mediator effect of body image shame on the association between bullying and disordered eating. Results: Bullying had a significant effect on the initial status of both body image shame and disordered eating. Body image shame and disordered eating growth was stable over time. Body image shame significantly mediated the relationship between bullying and disordered eating symptomatology. Conclusions: Findings suggest that programmes aimed at preventing bullying and associated shame could decrease the risk of initially developing body image issues and disordered eating.