Weight Misperception and Health Risk Behaviors in Youth: the 2011 US YRBS (original) (raw)

Objectives: To evaluate dose-response associations between misperceived weight and 32 health risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of US adolescents. Methods: Participants included 13,864 US high school students in the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Comparing the degree of agreement between perceived and reported actual weight, weight misperception was determined as 5 categories. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analyses evaluated associations of weight misperception with 32 health risk behaviors. Results: Both underestimated and overestimated weight were statistically significantly associated with all 32 health risk behaviors in a dose-response manner after adjustment for age, sex and race/ethnicity, where greater weight misperception was associated with higher engagement in health risk behaviors. Conclusions: Understanding potential impacts of weight misperception on health risk behaviors could improve interventions that encourage healthy weight perception and attainment for adolescents.

Keywords: ADOLESCENT;HEALTH RISK BEHAVIORS;HIGH SCHOOL;MISPERCEIVED WEIGHT;YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Center for Health Data and Analysis, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, RI, USA. [email protected] 2: Brown University School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Providence, RI, USA

Publication date: 2014-09-01

More about this publication?

• The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.
  The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.
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