Body image perception and body composition in early adolescents: a longitudinal study of an Italian cohort

Abstract

Background Adolescence is a sensitive period of life in which everyone faces physical and psychological changes. No longitudinal studies considering changes in body image perception and body composition in Italian adolescents have been carried out. The aims of this study were to evaluate the longitudinal change in body composition and weight status in a sample of Italian students of both sexes over the 3 years of middle school and to analyse the influence of these parameters on the perception and satisfaction of one’s own body image. Methods Sixty-four males and seventy females were followed longitudinally from 11 to 14. Age at first measurement was 11.8 ± 0.3 yrs. in males and 11.9 ± 0.3 yrs. in females, then the students were measured again after 1 year and 2 years. Anthropometric measurements were collected and body composition was assessed by skinfolds. Maturity status was detected by age at menarche in females and by estimated age at peak height velocity in males; sports practice was assessed by a questionnaire. Body Silhouette Charts were used to assess body image perception. The degree of body image dissatisfaction and improper perception of weight status were evaluated. Univariate and multivariate analyses were applied. Results Height, sitting height, leg length, and weight increments were higher in males than in females, and in both sexes the sitting height increment was higher than that of leg length. Skinfold thicknesses and percentage of body fat, showed a decrease in males and an increase in females over the 3 years. About 90% of the sample practiced sport during the 3 years. No significant variations in body image perception were observed among repeated measures but significantly differences were observed between sexes. Although the girls showed a lower incidence of overweight and obesity than boys, girls had a higher dissatisfaction than males. Males were less accurate in one’s perception of one’s own weight status. Conclusions The changes in body composition observed in the sample of the present study were in accordance with their maturity stage. An increase in parameters connected with adiposity is observed in females and a decrease in males. Body image perception did not seem to change with growth, but associations were found between body image perception and BMI and sex. Monitoring body image perception in young adolescents, especially in females and in overweight/obese subjects, is a priority to prevent nutritional disorders.

Mediterranean Diet Adherence in Adolescents of Different Cultures and Geographical Proveniences: A Pilot Study

“…Most of our sample was of normal weight, independently from geographical provenience, with few volunteers allocated in the extreme categories of BMI: 8.9% were underweight (11.4% of the Mediterranean volunteers and 6.8% of the non-Mediterranean ones) and 3.8% were obese (all coming from non-Mediterranean countries). The prevalence of volunteers with a normal weight agrees with results from other studies which, however, do not consider the multicultural aspects which have been considered in our study [33,35].…”

“…Adolescence is also considered a critical window for the development of overweight and obesity, and there is consistent evidence showing that excess weight in youth tends to track into adulthood [33]. The aetiology of adolescent overweight and obesity is multifactorial.…”

“…The aetiology of adolescent overweight and obesity is multifactorial. The main contributing factors are difficult to pinpoint, but it is believed to be a complex interaction of environmental, metabolic, psychological, genetic and lifestyle behaviours [33]. While mean BMI and obesity prevalence in several high-income countries have reached a plateau, their rates have accelerated in low-income countries [34].…”

Physical Activity and Body Image Perception in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…All the studies were conducted on samples of students except two studies on athletes, two studies on Chinese samples [ 46 , 69 ], that employed a secondary-analyses of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), and the Indonesian household survey [ 59 ]. The majority of studies had a cross-sectional design, and only three studies had a longitudinal or repeated measures design [ 38 , 42 , 63 ].…”

“…Several studies underlined the association between BI and BMI, especially in overweight and obesity categories [ 38 , 41 , 43 , 46 , 57 , 59 , 60 , 63 , 65 , 67 ]. In almost all the studies that reported this association, overweight and obese adolescents had higher body dissatisfaction and less body perception consistency, evaluating themselves as slimmer than they were.…”