Being Normal Weight but Feeling Overweight in Adolescence May Affect Weight Development into Young Adulthood—An 11-Year Followup: The HUNT Study, Norway

Abstract

Objectives. To explore if self-perceived overweight in normal weight adolescents influence their weight development into young adulthood and if so, whether physical activity moderates this association. Methods. A longitudinal study of 1196 normal weight adolescents (13–19 yrs) who were followed up as young adults (24–30 yrs) in the HUNT study. Lifestyle and health issues were assessed employing questionnaires, and standardized anthropometric measurements were taken. Chi square calculations and regression analyses were performed to investigate the associations between self-perceived overweight and change in BMI or waist circumference (WC) adjusted for age, age squared, sex, and other relevant cofactors. Results. Adolescents, defined as being normal weight, but who perceived themselves as overweight had a larger weight gain into young adulthood than adolescents who perceived themselves as normal weight (difference in BMI: 0.66 units [CI95%: 0.1, 1.2] and in WC: 3.46 cm [CI95%: 1.8, 5.1]). Level of physical activity was not found to moderate this association. Conclusions. This study reveals that self-perceived overweight during adolescence may affect development of weight from adolescence into young adulthood. This highlights the importance of also focusing on body image in public health interventions against obesity, favouring a “healthy” body weight taking into account natural differences in body shapes.

Gender-specific association of weight perception and appearance satisfaction with slimming attempts and eating patterns in a sample of young Norwegian adolescents

“…Gender patterns in relation to body satisfaction and weight perception appear to be consistent across Western countries (3,11,(19)(20)(21)(22) . Girls perceive themselves as overweight and report body and appearance dissatisfaction more often than boys, whereas boys are more likely to perceive themselves as underweight.…”

Residual Effects of Restless Sleep over Depressive Symptoms on Chronic Medical Conditions: Race by Gender Differences

“…Multi-group models yielded separate estimates for each group (67). Considering age square as a confounder in addition to age is an accepted practice for long term studies which focus on trajectory of health outcomes over a long period of time (68–74). This is because particularly for long follow-up periods, influence of age on health outcomes is not linear, and adding age square to the model can capture the non-linear effect (j shape or the reverse j shape) of age on health outcome.…”

Universal prevention efforts should address eating disorder pathology across the weight spectrum: Implications for screening and intervention on college campuses

“…Indeed, integrating prevention for EDs and obesity that provides universal messaging around healthy eating and physical activity and addresses sociocultural factors related to weight represents a promising target for weight-related intervention (Ciao, Loth, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2014). Obesity is a potent risk factor for EDs (Hilbert et al, 2014; Jacobi, Hayward, de Zwaan, Kraemer, & Agras, 2004), and engaging in ED behaviors and/or unhealthy weight control practices confers risk for excess weight gain and obesity (Cuypers et al, 2012; Goldschmidt, Jones et al, 2008; Hilbert, Hartmann, Czaja, & Schoebi, 2013; Neumark-Sztainer et al, 2006; Sonneville et al, 2013; Stice, Cameron, Killen, Hayward, & Taylor, 1999; Tanofsky-Kraff et al, 2009, 2011). Thus, given the shared risk and maintaining factors for EDs and obesity, we examined screening responses among university students with overweight/obesity versus those with normal weight or underweight to evaluate differences by weight status in ED risk/clinical status and in associated ED pathology.…”