Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Reciprocal Prospective Relationships Between Lo...

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Reciprocal Prospective Relationships Between Loneliness and Weight Status in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • Pamela Qualter
  • Ruth Hurley
  • Michel Boivin
  • Richard Tremblay
  • Janice Abbott
  • Alice Eccles
Close
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>31/07/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of youth and adolescence
Issue number7
Volume47
Number of pages13
Pages (from-to)1385-1397
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date28/05/18
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Adolescents who do not conform to weight ideals are vulnerable to disapproval and victimization from peers in school. But, missing from the literature is a prospective examination of weight status and feelings of loneliness that might come from those experiences. Using data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, we filled that gap by examining the prospective associations between loneliness and weight status when the sample was aged 10–13 years. At ages 10, 12, and 13 years, 1042 youth (572 females; 92% from French speaking homes) reported on their loneliness and were weighed and measured. Family income sufficiency was included in our analyses given its relationship with weight status, but also its possible link with loneliness during early adolescence. The findings showed that (1) weight status and loneliness were not associated concurrently; (2) weight status predicted increases in loneliness from ages 12 to 13 years; and (3) loneliness predicted increases in weight from ages 12 to 13 years among female adolescents, but weight loss among male adolescents. The fact that loneliness was involved in weight gain for females suggests that interventions focused on reducing loneliness and increasing connection with peers during early adolescence could help in reducing obesity.