Naslov
High prevalence of a negative body-image in normal weight adolescent girls from Zagreb, Croatia: a pilot-study

Autori
Veček, Andrea ; Zajc Petranović, Matea ; Tomas, Željka ; Škarić-Jurić, Tatjana ; Živičnjak, Miroslav ; Miličić, Jasna ; Smolej Narančić, Nina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
The 18th biennial EUSUHM 2015 Congress: Mental Wellbeing of Children and Youth - a shared responsibility. Abstract Book. / - , 2015, 77-77

Skup
EUSUHM 2015 Congress

Mjesto i datum
Talin, Estonija, 04.06.2015. - 05.06.2015

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
adolescent girls; negative self-image; overweight; obesity

Sažetak
Background: Girls in adolescence, a developmental period characterized by physical and psychological changes, are often dissatisfied by their appearance believing that they are overweight/obese. This dissatisfaction has an adverse effect on their mental health causing low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and may also lead to eating disorders. In many cases a negative self-image and impression that they should lose weight exists in girls who are actually at a healthy weight. In order to determine a prevalence of such cases, and to evaluate if there is a need for developing a self-esteem promoting program for the adolescent girls from Zagreb, Croatia, we conducted this pilot-study. Methods: 887 randomly selected girls (15-19 yrs) participated in the study. The protocol consisted of an interview regarding their family background, impression on body image and short anthropometry. Results: 32.2% (N=286) of all girls said that they had excess weight, although most of them (83.2%) had BMI<85th percentile, waist circumference<90th percentile (74.5%) and waist/height ratio<0.5 (81.3%). Still, t-test results showed that of all girls with BMI<85th percentile, those who think of themselves as overweight/obese have higher mean weight, BMI, waist circumference and waist/height ratio than their peers with a positive-self image (all p<0.001). No significant differences were found in school success and parents` marital status between girls with negative and positive self- image. Conclusions: 26.8% of adolescent urban girls were dissatisfied with their shape and size although they were not overweight/obese. We emphasize a strong need for development of program that would help raising self-esteem in this population.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija, Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Etnologija i antropologija

POVEZANOST RADA