Teenage girls who consider themselves overweight appear to be at a greater risk for depression, school-related problems and destructive behaviors. These findings come from a study of 7,000 adolescents and incredibly, the feelings of stress and depression also held true for children who were actually of normal weight or underweight. Researcher Bin Xie, at the University of Southern California, said the study highlights the need to incorporate body-image education in efforts to prevent teenage obesity. "Weight perception may actually transcend actual body weight as a predictor of negative psychological effects," said Xie.
The study, published in the American Journal of Health Behavior, found that the perception of being overweight - whether correct or incorrect - was also associated with poorer academic performance among the girls in the study. The girls who said they were overweight reported an overall grade point average of 3.06 versus 3.20 for other girls.
Commenting on the study, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, from the University of Minnesota, said cultivating positive body image may help teens sidestep destructive behavior. "Many teenagers, particularly girls, but also boys, feel dissatisfied with their bodies and then they engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors in order to lose the weight quickly," she said. Interestingly, Neumark-Sztainer said that overweight teens don't automatically have poor body image; instead, self-image is often tied to whether or not a teen's family accepts him or her.
Xie believes that increased affluence and media exposure has led to poor physical activity habits that come with higher rates of death and illness from chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Source: American Journal of Health Behavior
