An evaluation of a body image intervention in adolescent girls delivered in single-sex versus co-educational classroom settings
Abstract
Body dissatisfaction is now recognized as having considerable negative impact on social, psychological, and physical health, particularly in adolescent girls. Consequently, we have developed a six-session co-educational body image intervention (Happy Being Me Co-educational) designed to reduce body dissatisfaction and its risk factors in Grade 7 girls. In addition to evaluating the program's efficacy, we aimed to identify whether girls would benefit equally when it was delivered as a universal intervention to a whole class including both boys and girls (co-educational delivery), or delivered as a selective intervention to girls only (single-sex delivery). Participants were 200 Grade 7 girls from five schools in Melbourne, Australia. Schools were randomly allocated to receive the intervention in single-sex classes (n=74), co-educational classes (n=73), or participate as a no-intervention control (n=53). Girls completed self-report assessments of body dissatisfaction, psychological (internalization of the thin ideal, appearance comparison, and self-esteem) and peer environment (weight-related teasing and appearance conversations) risk factors for body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint, at baseline, post-intervention, and at 6-month follow-up. Significant improvements in body dissatisfaction and psychological risk factors were observed in the intervention group at post-intervention and these were maintained at follow-up for psychological risk factors. Importantly, no significant differences between universal and selective delivery were observed, suggesting that the intervention is appropriate for dissemination in both modes.
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Interventions that contain some elements of media literacy have shown promise in improving body image and reducing internalization of appearance ideals among adolescents.
“Interventions that contain some elements of media literacy have also shown promise in improving body image and reducing internalization of appearance ideals among adolescents [49,50,51,52,53].”
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- Authors
- Dunstan, C. J., Paxton, S. J., & McLean, S. A.
- Affiliations
- La Trobe University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Paxton, Susan J.
- Venue
- Eating Behaviors
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-04
- Volume
- 25
- Pages
- 23-31
- ISSN
- 1471-0153 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2299079263
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 8.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Eating Behaviors (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Victoria University Research Repository (Victoria University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- beyondblue
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Keywords
- body image interventions, body dissatisfaction, adolescent girls, single-sex classrooms, universal interventions, selective intervention, appearance comparison, self-esteem, weight-related teasing, dietary restraint, peer environment, school-based prevention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Australia, Body Image, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Health Education, Humans, Male, Personal Satisfaction, Risk Factors, School Health Services, Self Concept, Thinness, Program Evaluation, Self Report
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