Weight-related concerns and weight-control behaviors among overweight adolescents in Delhi, India: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundObesity is emerging as a public health problem among adolescents in India. The aim of this study was to describe specific weight-related concerns among school-going youth in Delhi, India and to assess the prevalence of weight control behaviors, including healthy and unhealthy ones. Differences by weight status, gender, grade level, and school-type (a proxy for SES in this setting) are considered.MethodsThis study is cross-sectional by design. A sample of eighth and tenth graders (n = 1818) enrolled in Private (middle-high SES) and Government (low SES) schools (n = 8) in Delhi, India participated. All students' height and weight were measured. Students participated in a survey of weight-related concerns and weight-control behaviors, as well. Mixed-effects regression models were used to test for differences in weight-related concerns and weight-control behaviors across key factors of interest (i.e., weight status, gender, grade level, and SES).ResultsThe combined prevalence of obesity and overweight was 16.6%, overall. Controlling one's weight was important to overweight and non-overweight youth, alike (94.2% v. 84.8%, p < 0.001). Significantly more overweight or obese youth reported trying to control their weight last year, compared to those who were not overweight (68.1% v. 18.0%, p < 0.001). Healthy weight control behaviors were more common than unhealthy or extreme practices, although the latter were still prevalent. Half of the overweight or obese students misclassified their weight status, while about 1 in 10 non-overweight youth did the same. Body dissatisfaction was highest among overweight youth and girls.ConclusionsInterventions to promote healthy weight control should be pertinent to and well-received by school-going youth in India. Healthy weight control practices need to be explicitly encouraged and unhealthy practices reduced. Future interventions should address issues specific to body image, too, as body dissatisfaction was not uncommon among youth.

Urbanisation and geographic variation of overweight and obesity in India: a cross-sectional analysis of the Indian Demographic Health Survey 2005–2006

“…Body image ideals in India are changing along with the economic and nutritional transition: while the results of a study from 1993 suggested that South Asian women in Britain were less likely to be dissatisfied with their body weight or describe themselves as ''too fat'' when compared with Caucasian women (Wardle et al 1993), more recent studies suggest that Indian youth are more likely to idealise a slimmer body image, at times to an unhealthy extent (Goswami et al 2012;Priya et al 2010;Stigler et al 2011;Swaminathan et al 2013). This could only partially explain the low OR of overweight/obesity in the younger age group, since socioeconomic status and media exposure have been demonstrated as important combined factors of overweight and obesity for urban populations (Gouda and Prusty 2014).…”

Predictors of Weight Control Behavior According to College Students' BMI, Perception of Body Shape, Obesity Stress, and Self-Esteem

“…, 사회경제적 상태 [7], 실제 비만수준 및 자 신이 느끼는 비만수준이 높을수록 [17], 개인이 인지하 고 있는 주관적 체형인식이 체중조절행동을 결정하는 요인으로 알려져 있으며 [18], 자아 존중감과 비만에 대 한 두려움으로 인한 비만 스트레스 [19] …”

Body weight and body shape concerns and related behaviours among Indian urban adolescent girls

“…A few studies show that Indian adolescent girls express a milder form of weight dissatisfaction with added extreme fear of fatness (35) and subsequently attempt to achieve a slim and trim body shape by following various weight-loss measures (36)(37)(38) . Therefore, it seems that unhealthy weight-related behaviours seriously affect their physical and mental abilities at this vulnerable phase of growth (39) .…”