ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1663969
This article is part of the Research TopicBridging the Gap: Physical Manifestations and Mental Health in AdolescentsView all 11 articles
Beyond the Positive Glow: How School Climate Inadvertently Challenges Mental Health by Modifying the Relationship between BMI and Depression in Adolescents
Provisionally accepted
- 1Yibin University, Yibin, China
- 2Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Adolescence is a critical period for developing body esteem, shaped by physical changes and societal aesthetics, significantly impacting mental health. The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and depression warrants further exploration of mediating and moderating factors. A sample of 1,639 rural Chinese adolescents completed questionnaires. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed using SPSS 19.0. The results showed that body esteem mediated the relationship between underweight status and depression, as well as the relationship between overweight status and depression among boys. Among girls, body esteem only mediated the relationship between underweight status and depression. Moreover, a positive school climate diminished the protective role of body esteem against depression for both boys and girls. It also strengthened the positive association between underweight status and body esteem for boys but weakened the negative association between underweight status and depression for girls. Although a positive school climate correlates with better mental health, it may inadvertently 2 reinforce harmful body esteem standards, highlighting the need for gender-specific approaches in school policies and interventions.
Keywords: Underweight, Overweight, Depression, Body esteem, School Climate
Received: 11 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ling, He and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chao-Nan Chen, chenchaonan00@163.com
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