Pubertal Changes and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Body Image Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Girls

Abstract

The current study was designed to investigate the relationship of pubertal changes experiences with psycho-social factors in adolescent girls of Pakistan. A cross sectional study design was used to conduct this research. A large sample of adolescent girls (N=906) was selected from public and private Schools. All girls were selected from grade 7th, 8th and 9th through stratified
random sampling. Data Collection was done in the months of April, 2018- May, 2019. Pubertal Changes Experience Scale (Tasleem et al., 2020), Mental Health Inventory (Bashir & Naz, 2013), Body Dissatisfaction Scale (Tariq & Ijaz, 2015), Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Frick, 1991) were used in the data collection process. The hypothesis testing was done through Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Mediation. A positive correlation between emotional distress at the time of puberty, body dissatisfaction and psychological distress was found. Moreover,
emotional distress has inverse correlation with psychological wellbeing of adolescent girls. Body
image dissatisfaction was significantly positively correlated with psychological distress and
negatively correlated with psychological well-being. The factor of body image dissatisfaction
emerged as a mediating variable between pubertal changes experiences and mental health of
adolescent girls. It is also established in the study that pubertal changes influence social role of
adolescent girls and psychological distress. The current study provided an empirical evidence
about emergence of body dissatisfaction as a mediating factor between negative pubertal
experiences and mental health of adolescent girls at the time of puberty.