Body Image and Suicidal Ideation in Portuguese Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Internalized Psychopathology

Abstract

Keywords: Suicidal Ideation; Body Image; Adolescents; Internalized Psychopathology Objective: This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between body image and suicidal ideation in adolescents by testing a mediating effect of internalized psychopathology. Methods: A sample of 248 high school students (47.2% boys) aged between 15 and 20 years (8.4% ≥ 18) from a school cluster in Alentejo participated and was collected in the year of 2022. A mediation model was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), introducing positive body image (PBI) as the independent variable, as well as demographic variables that correlated with suicidal ideation as covariates. A latent variable (internalized psychopathology) with four indicators: anxiety, phobic anxiety, depression, and interpersonal sensitivity, was specified as the mediating variable, and suicidal ideation was introduced as the dependent, endogenous variable. Results: A significant negative direct effect of PBI on internalized psychopathology and a positive effect of internalized psychopathology on suicidal ideation were found. An indirect effect of the PBI variable on suicidal ideation was also observed. In a model without the mediating variable, PBI showed a significant relationship with suicidal ideation. Conclusions: The results demonstrate a full mediation effect of the internalized psychopathology variable in the relationship between PBI and suicidal ideation, suggesting that this dimension may help explaining the relationship between body image and suicidal ideation. Despite limitations, notably the cross-sectional design, this study contributes to the scientific field of clinical psychology by helping to understand adolescent suicidal ideation in the context of psychopathological functioning.