%0 Journal Article
%T The Role of Sport Involvement and General Self-Worth in the Interplay between Body Dissatisfaction, Worry, and School Disaffection in Preadolescent Boys and Girls
%A Diana Raufelder
%A Sandra Waak
%A Alice Melchior
%A Angela Ittel
%J Child Development Research
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/835149
%X While in recent years there has been increasing research on body dissatisfaction in preadolescence and a small body of research on worry in association with eating disorders, less is known about their effects on school disaffection. Therefore, the current study examined possible gender-specific relations between body dissatisfaction, worry, and school disaffection. To identify possible strategies of intervention and prevention, sport involvement and general self-worth were tested as mediators. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test for the mediating role of sport involvement and general self-worth in the association between body dissatisfaction, worry, and school disaffection in a sample of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students ( ; ) in elementary schools in Berlin, Germany. The results suggest that promoting feelings of general self-worth could be an effective starting point in decreasing the association between body dissatisfaction, worry, and school disaffection, in both boys and girls. Conversely, sport involvement was identified as a mediating factor for boys only. 1. Introduction A growing number of young boys and girls report feeling dissatisfied with their bodies and having a negative body image and self-judgments which are typically associated with negative emotions, particularly feelings of worry [1¨C3]. Actually, Sassaroli and colleagues have shown that there is a psychopathological association between worry and eating disorders in clinical samples [4]. As both worry and body dissatisfaction develop, increase, and manifest during adolescence, particularly for girls [1, 5¨C8], it is critical that preadolescents receive preventive and sustainable health promotion. In addition, school disaffection and a decrease in school achievement are also common in preadolescence for both boys and girls [9]. As FredricksonĄ¯s [10, 11] broaden and build theory postulates, the experience of frequent positive emotions serves to broaden humansĄ¯ thoughts and behaviors. Based on this theory, the study of Reschly and colleagues with students from secondary schools has shown that frequent positive emotions during school were associated with higher levels of student engagement and negative emotions with lower levels of engagement [12]. According to Reschly et al. and based on the reverse of FredericksonĄ¯s broaden and build theory, the main goal of the present study was to examine if negative emotions and thoughts, specifically worry and body dissatisfaction, are associated with school disaffection in preadolescence considering potential
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdr/2013/835149/