Objective: Depression is a leading cause of disability among adolescents, yet existing treatments are variably effective, suggesting needs to identify novel intervention targets. Body dissatisfaction (BD) may be a promising, but understudied, target: BD is common among adolescents; prospectively associated with future depression; and modifiable through intervention. BD interventions are typically evaluated in terms of impacts on eating disorders, but many trials also measure depression-related secondary outcomes. However, BD intervention effects on depression have not been systematically examined. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis to estimate secondary effects of BD interventions on depression symptoms and related outcomes in adolescents (ages 12-19). Method: Our systematic review included RCTs published between January 2006-December 2020. Across-group effect sizes were analyzed using robust variance estimation. Pre-registered methods, data, and analytic code are available at https://osf.io/734n8/. Results: The meta-analysis included thirteen RCTs, 50 effect sizes, and 6,962 participants. BD interventions led to significant post-intervention reductions in depression-related outcomes versus control conditions (g = -.19 at post-intervention, 95% CI -.07, -.31, p = .005). No evidence emerged for moderators of this meta-analytic effect. Discussion: Overall, BD-focused interventions significantly reduced adolescent depression, with mean post-intervention effect sizes comparable to those observed for interventions targeting depression explicitly. Results are bolstered by pre-registered methods and robustness checks. Limitations include a lack of data on participants’ sexual and gender identities and a significant risk of bias in the underlying literature. Future research on BD interventions should measure depression symptom severity as a secondary outcome.
Secondary effects of body dissatisfaction interventions on adolescent depressive symptoms: A
meta‐analysis
