Body Image and Self-Harming Behaviors in Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Somatization

Abstract

In the present investigation, we used structural equation modeling with 251 adolescents to reveal, through path analyses, the degree to which somatization might mediate the relationships between body image and self-harming behaviors. After controlling for the effects of (a) age, (b) gender, and (c) having previously visited a psychologist, we observed that somatization fully mediated both the relationship between body image and self-harming behaviors and the relationship between gender and self-harming behaviors. These results suggest that having a less satisfied relationship with the body or a more negative body image is closely related to a somatic experience of greater psychological suffering, which could lead, in turn, to a more active expression of this suffering through self-harming behaviors.