Weight in the mind: Weight perception and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents.
J Affect Disord
; 278: 506-514, 2021 01 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33017678
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Increasing evidence demonstrates the significant role of weight perception in shaping the mental health of adolescents. This study sought to extend previous literature by examining the associations of weight perception categories with depressive symptoms for both boys and girls in China, and further explored whether the associations varied between urban and rural areas.METHODS:
Data were from a large-scale, national survey of Chinese middle school students. The analytical sample had 8568 respondents with a mean age of 13.9 years (SD=0.7). Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were adopted to examine the links between weight perception and depressive symptoms.RESULTS:
Overweight perceptions were more prevalent in girls than in boys (47.0% vs. 29.3%), whereas underweight perceptions were less common in girls than in boys (15.7% vs. 29.3%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and health conditions, self-perceiving as "slightly overweight" and "very overweight" were significantly related to more depressive symptoms for both boys (p<0.05) and girls (p<0.05). A "very underweight" perception, however, was found to be only linked to greater depressive symptoms in boys (p<0.05). Notably, these patterns showed no significant rural-urban difference, as evidenced by the lack of significant interactive effects of all weight perceptions categories and region (urban/rural) on depressive symptoms.LIMITATIONS:
This study was based on a cross-sectional design, which essentially precludes the possibility to determine the causality of the observed associations.CONCLUSION:
Findings in this study indicated that the impacts of subjective physical attractiveness have been gendered and regionally pervasive in affecting emotional well-being of Chinese adolescents.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Percepção de Peso
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Região como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article