Body dissatisfaction as a predictor of self-reported suicide attempts in adolescents: A Spanish community prospective study

PurposeTo examine whether body dissatisfaction at the age of 13 years predicted the risk for reported suicide attempts two years later, controlling the effects of pre-existing suicide ideation and attempts as well as numerous variables.MethodsA community-longitudinal study, with 1766 (887 female and 878 male) pupils aged 13 years from all the schools of a designated area, was performed. The Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and other self-reported questionnaires were administered. Suicidal thinking and suicide attempts were also evaluated.ResultsControlling the effect of gender and other possible predictive variables, previous suicidal thinking (odds ratio [OR] = 3.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.57–9.56) and scores on the BSQ (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.01–1.03) predicted reported suicide attempts in the next two years.ConclusionsPrograms improving one’s own body-image esteem in adolescence might help to prevent not only eating disorders but other potentially dangerous consequences.