The prevalence of fast food consumption and childhood obesity has increased rapidly. This study aimed to assess the association between the frequency of fast food consumption in the past week with emotional and behavioral problems of 624 adolescents with overweight and obese problems (mean age = 14.6). Frequency of fast food consumption was assessed through a pre-tested nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire. Meanwhile, the Youth Self-Report questionnaire was used to measure emotional and behavioral problems. Multiple linear regression was used to measure the strength of relationships. The strongest and significant positive correlation was reported between frequency of fast food consumption in the past week and aggressive behavior ( r = .65, p < .001). Weak but significant positive correlations were demonstrated between frequency of fast food intake in the past week with somatic complaints ( r = .328, p < .001) and attention problems ( r = .356, p < .001). Therefore, adolescents with obese and overweight problems and their parents should be instilled awareness about the association between fast food consumption and emotional and behavioral problems to achieve their psychological well-being.

<p>This study aimed to assess the association between the frequency of fast food consumption in the past week with emotional and behavioural problems of 624 overweight and obese adolescents (mean age = 14.6). Frequency of fast food consumption was assessed through a pre-tested nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire. Meanwhile, the Youth Self-Report questionnaire was used to measure emotional and behavioural problems. Spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to measure the strength of relationships. Positive associations that are statistically significant were found between frequency of fast food consumption and syndromes of anxious/depressed (rs=0.082, p<0.05), somatic complaints (rs=0.139, p<0.01), social problems (rs=0.115, p <0.01), thought problems (rs=0.118, p<0.01), attention problems (rs=0.125, p<0.01), rule-breaking behaviour (rs=0.144, p<0.001), and aggressive behaviour (rs=0.168, p<0.001). There were also differences found in the associations based on gender, locality of schools and ethnicity. Therefore, adolescents should be discouraged from consuming fast food as much as possible.</p>

<p>Obesity has been shown to impact the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among children. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of MyBFF@school program on HRQOL among overweight and obese primary school children in Malaysia. KINDL^R Questionnaire was used to collect data on their HRQOL before and after the program. ANCOVA was used to analyse the comparison between intervention and control group after 6 months. There are significant effect on family functioning, F(2,1103)=7.452, p<0.05 and school functioning, F(1,1117)=7.103, p<0.05 after the intervention. Effects can also be seen on physical well-being, emotional well-being and friends functioning. The program is effective in improving the HRQOL significantly in two dimensions namely the family and school functioning. In order to achieve greater overall success,social support should be an integral part of the program and stigma on obesity should be managed and reduced by including normal-weight children in the program.</p>

<p>This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between fast foods and snacks consumption with the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among 1138 overweight and obese primary school children with mean(SD) age of 9.9(0.9) years old. Data was collected at baseline in which the frequency of fast food consumption (FFC) and snacking in the past week were measured using a pre-tested nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire whereas the HRQOL was measured using the KINDL^Rquestionnaire. Spearman’s rank order correlation found significant negative association between FFC and emotional well-being (rs=-0.066, p<.05). Significant negative associations were also observed between snacking frequency with physical well-being (rs=-0.071, p<.05) and emotional well being (rs=-0.073, p<.05). The findings from this study suggest that the physical well-being and emotional well-being of overweight and obese children could be attributed to the FFC and snacking. Therefore, these type of foods should not be encouraged to be included in children’s diet.</p>

<p>Background: Obesity may cause negative impacts on the physical and psychosocial aspects of the children. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of MyBFF@school intervention program on emotional and behavioral problems in a clustered randomized controlled trial among 768 overweight and obese secondary school children in Malaysia. Methods: They were assessed by using the Youth Self-Report Questionnaire to measure their emotional and behavioral problems. Comparison between intervention group (447 children) and control group (321 children) at post-intervention were analyzed using ANCOVA. Results: There were significant reduction in the symptoms of anxious/depressed, F(1,740)=4.591, p <0.05, withdrawn/depressed, F(1,745)=5.257, p <0.05 and somatic complaints, F(2,729)=4.072, p <0.05 post 6 months of intervention. MyBFF@school program was effective in reducing the aforementioned symptoms significantly, which prove the effectiveness of the psychology module used in the program. Conclusions: The findings demonstrated the importance of psychology component in programs combating obesity among overweight and obese secondary school children to reduce emotional and behavioural problems among them. Trial registration: National Medical Research Register: NMRR-13-439-16563. Registered 23rd July 2013. The intervention program was approved by the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC), Ministry of Health Malaysia and Educational Planning and Research Division (EPRD), Ministry of Education Malaysia.</p>