| Link between obesity and self-esteem linked to race and gender |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 08 May 2007 | |
|
The study researchers analyzed data from a survey of media use, health and sexuality from more than 1,000 teenagers in seventh and eighth grade. The questions were designed to measure the participants' perceived attractiveness, self esteem, levels of depression, desire to lose weight, body mass index, physical activity, ethnicity and exposure to mass media. As might be expected, the study identified a strong positive correlation between a high sense of body satisfaction and self-esteem. However, the study identified striking differences in this correlation between different ethnic groupings. White girls, for example, were seven times more likely to have high self esteem if they liked their bodies, whereas black girls were only three times more likely to experience similar high self-esteem. Black boys did not have a significant positive correlation between their satisfaction with their body and their level of self-esteem, although there was a correlation between being overweight and suffering from lower body satisfaction. “Our study suggests something unique might be going on for black boys,” said Eliana Miller Perrin, M.D., lead study author and an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine. “Those who reported being overweight didn’t like their bodies, but they seemed to be able to separate body esteem from self-esteem.” Most of the study participants who expressed a desire to lose weight also reported being unhappy with their bodies. This was most notable in the female participants. “For teens in our study, except black boys, if you like your body, you have high self- esteem and vice versa,” Perrin said. “And if you want to lose weight, you probably don't like your body whether you are black or white, male or female.” |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
![[أربيك]](http://www.lipo.com/websitetranslator/images/flag_ar.gif){kind=small}
