Citation

Palmer Jr. CJ. J. Black Psychol. 2003; 29(4): 408-428.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Association of Black Psychologists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0095798403256890

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Self-esteem and depression, as well as depression and body mass index (BMI), have consistently been found to be significantly associated for African American and White American females. The results are dissimilar when BMI and self-esteem are studied. Historically, the relationship between BMI and self-esteem is weak or nonexistent for African American females; however, for White American females, the relationship is usually significant. The goal of this study was to determine whether clinically depressed, healthy-weight, overweight, and obese females would dififer significantly on self-esteem and suicide risk measures. In a voluntary hospital-based inpatient psychiatric unit, 165 clinically depressed females completed the self-esteem rating scale and the suicide risk scale. Healthy-weight, overweight, and obese African American females did not differ significantly on measures of self-esteem and suicide risk. However, depressed, obese White American females had significantly lower self-esteem and increased suicide risk than depressed healthy-weight and overweight White American females. Implications of the current results are discussed. © 2003 The Association of Black Psychologists.

Language: en

Keywords

Depression; Body mass index; Self-esteem