Weight Perception in Adolescents and Their Relationships with Quality of Life and Self-Efficacy

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to determine the body weight and weight perception of adolescents, examine the relationship with Pediatric-Quality-of-Life (PedsQL) and Self-Efficacy-Questionnaire-for-Children (SEQ-C).

METHODS

The study was conducted with 779 (55.3% girl, 44.7% boy) adolescents, with an average age of 16.3±1.1. The actual body weight declared by the adolescents was defined as “extremely underweight”, “underweight”, “normal”, “overweight” and “obese” according to gender and age specific body mass index (BMI) values. The students were asked about their perception of body weight, and told to identify with one of the above-mentioned weight definitions. All participants completed the PedsQL and SEQ-C scale.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in total quality of life scores associated with BMI of participants. 47.3% of the girls and 36.5% of the boys perceived themselves at different weight than they were. 43% of girls and 14.3% of boys overestimated their weights where as most of them had normal BMI. While 34.8% of overweight and obese boys underestimated their weights, none of girls did. The total PedsQL was lower among those who perceived themselves overweight than those who perceived normal. There was no statistically significant relation between SEQ-C -scale and weight perception and BMI.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Results of our study indicate the importance of investigating adolescents’ perception of their body weight besides their actual weight. These results denote the necessity of actions aimed at raising the adolescents’ quality of life whose perceptions of body weight exceed their actual weight.