Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents
Background. Several researchers have argued that disturbances in embodiment play an important role in the development of psychological health problems among adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to use the 12-item Embodiment Scale (ES-12), with its three subscales Harmonious Body (HB),...
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Lund University Library
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Journal for Person-Oriented Research |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.lub.lu.se/jpor/article/view/27578 |
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| author | Lars-Gunnar Lundh Lo Foster Daiva Daukantaité |
| author_facet | Lars-Gunnar Lundh Lo Foster Daiva Daukantaité |
| author_sort | Lars-Gunnar Lundh |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Background. Several researchers have argued that disturbances in embodiment play an important role in the development of psychological health problems among adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to use the 12-item Embodiment Scale (ES-12), with its three subscales Harmonious Body (HB), Disharmonious Body (DB), and Body for Others (BO), (1) to identify subgroups of adolescents with different profiles on the ES-12 scales, and (2) to see how these profiles are associated with patterns of psychological health problems.
Methods. The participants were 530 adolescents with a mean age of 14 years (SD = 0.89), who filled out the ES-12 and measures of disordered eating, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), anxiety, and depression. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to divide the sample into (1) subgroups with different profiles of HB, DB and BO and (2) subgroups with different psychological health profiles. Cross-tabulation was used to study associations between different embodiment profiles and different patterns of psychological health problems.
Results. Five different profiles of embodiment were identified: Strong Embodiment, Average Embodiment, Weak Embodiment, Body for Others, and Low Body Harmony. Five different psychological health profiles were identified: Multiple Problems, Multiple Problems without NSSI, Disordered Eating Only, Average Psychological Health, and a Healthy profile. Cross-tabulation showed that individuals with a Strong Embodiment profile were over-represented among adolescents in the Healthy cluster, and that individuals with the Weak Embodiment profile were over-represented in both Multiple Problems clusters. Individuals with a Body for Others profile were over-represented among adolescents with a Disordered Eating Only profile but not among adolescents with Multiple Problems profiles.
Conclusions. These findings align with theoretical frameworks which emphasize the importance of embodiment for the understanding of psychological health problems. At the same time, the results go against theories that attribute a central role to high levels of experienced Body for Others for the development of psychological health problems.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8121e5d69def4bcf8ef077d4e0787d35 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2002-0244 2003-0177 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Lund University Library |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal for Person-Oriented Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-8121e5d69def4bcf8ef077d4e0787d352025-08-20T02:53:34ZengLund University LibraryJournal for Person-Oriented Research2002-02442003-01772025-04-0111110.17505/jpor.2025.27578Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young AdolescentsLars-Gunnar Lundh0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-969XLo Foster1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3636-956XDaiva Daukantaité2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1994-041XDepartment of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenDepartment of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenDepartment of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Background. Several researchers have argued that disturbances in embodiment play an important role in the development of psychological health problems among adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to use the 12-item Embodiment Scale (ES-12), with its three subscales Harmonious Body (HB), Disharmonious Body (DB), and Body for Others (BO), (1) to identify subgroups of adolescents with different profiles on the ES-12 scales, and (2) to see how these profiles are associated with patterns of psychological health problems. Methods. The participants were 530 adolescents with a mean age of 14 years (SD = 0.89), who filled out the ES-12 and measures of disordered eating, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), anxiety, and depression. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to divide the sample into (1) subgroups with different profiles of HB, DB and BO and (2) subgroups with different psychological health profiles. Cross-tabulation was used to study associations between different embodiment profiles and different patterns of psychological health problems. Results. Five different profiles of embodiment were identified: Strong Embodiment, Average Embodiment, Weak Embodiment, Body for Others, and Low Body Harmony. Five different psychological health profiles were identified: Multiple Problems, Multiple Problems without NSSI, Disordered Eating Only, Average Psychological Health, and a Healthy profile. Cross-tabulation showed that individuals with a Strong Embodiment profile were over-represented among adolescents in the Healthy cluster, and that individuals with the Weak Embodiment profile were over-represented in both Multiple Problems clusters. Individuals with a Body for Others profile were over-represented among adolescents with a Disordered Eating Only profile but not among adolescents with Multiple Problems profiles. Conclusions. These findings align with theoretical frameworks which emphasize the importance of embodiment for the understanding of psychological health problems. At the same time, the results go against theories that attribute a central role to high levels of experienced Body for Others for the development of psychological health problems. https://journals.lub.lu.se/jpor/article/view/27578embodimentEmbodiment Scale-12 (ES-12)embodiment profilesadolescencedisordered eatingnon-suicidal self-injury |
| spellingShingle | Lars-Gunnar Lundh Lo Foster Daiva Daukantaité Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents Journal for Person-Oriented Research embodiment Embodiment Scale-12 (ES-12) embodiment profiles adolescence disordered eating non-suicidal self-injury |
| title | Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents |
| title_full | Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents |
| title_fullStr | Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents |
| title_short | Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence. 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents |
| title_sort | embodiment and psychological health in adolescence 2 embodiment profiles and their association with psychological health among young adolescents |
| topic | embodiment Embodiment Scale-12 (ES-12) embodiment profiles adolescence disordered eating non-suicidal self-injury |
| url | https://journals.lub.lu.se/jpor/article/view/27578 |
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