BMI, Body Image, Emotional Well-Being and Weight-Control Behaviors in Urban African American Adolescents

Abstract

IMPORTANCE-While urban African American adolescents face significant health disparities associated with overweight and obesity that follow them into adulthood; there is limited data on body image, emotional well-being, and weight control behaviors in this population to design effective public health interventions.OBJECTIVE-This study was designed to understand the association of weight status to adolescent weight control, body image, and emotional well-being responses, in African American high school students. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS-The study cohort consisted of 776 students, mean age 15.8 years (±1.2). Data from Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) student surveys and anthropometric studies were collected at School-Based Health Centers.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES-Associations between adolescent responses on the GAPS and body mass index (BMI) status (healthy weight: 5th to less than 85th percentile, overweight: 85th to less than 95th percentile, obese: 95th percentile or greater) were estimated using logistic regression and dose-response plots.RESULTS-There were statistically significant associations between BMI category and weight control (ranging from a mean 5.18 to 7.68 odds of obesity) and body image (3.40 to 13.26 odds of obesity) responses. Responses to weight control and body image questions exhibited a doseresponse for odds of overweight and obesity. Feelings of depressed mood were associated with obesity (1.47 times the odds of obesity compared to students who did not endorse depressed mood; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.13) but not overweight status. HHS Public Access

Nutritional Status and its Associated Factors among Adolescents

“…Bio electrical impedance method was used for the assessment of body fat percentage of the adolescents. Findings from hand held bio electrical impedance method using OMRON HBF 306 model body fat analyzer highly correlates to one from Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) [67][68][69][70] , the same model used in this study. On basis of this nearly half (49.4%) were lean followed by 32.2 percent and 18.4 percent normal and obese adolescents respectively.…”