광주지역 청소년들의 체중과 관련된 식이태도, 체중만족도 및 체형조절 실태조사

A Survey of Eating Attitudes, Body Shape Satisfaction and Weight Control Related with Body Weight of Adolescents in Gwangju

To investigate eating attitudes, body shape satisfaction, and weight control behavior related to body weight of adolescents in Gwangju, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey and physical examination were conducted to examine body shape satisfaction, weight control behaviors, eating attitudes, and weight status of 210 adolescent girls and 164 boys. The risk of developing an eating disorder was greater for girls than for boys, for high school students than for middle school students, and for the obesity group than for the underweight group or normal group. They also had significant dissatisfaction with their body shape and they practiced unhealthy weight control behavior. However, some respondents who had low weight or normal weight not requiring weight control expressed significant dissatisfaction with their body shape or tried to control their weight. Therefore, respondents who had greater dissatisfaction with their body shape, and greater risk o f eating disorder, were more likely to try unhealthy methods of weight control. These results indicate that inappropriate cognition has a bad influence on the health of adolescents. Nutritional education for adolescents is needed to improve and supplement their wrong cognition of body shape and inappropriate weight control behavior.