Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the adolescent girl's weight control practices, degree of obesity and body image. The data were collected from July 1st to 15th, 1996 using the questionnaire and the physical examination record. The subjects of this study were 295 junior high school girls. Darta were analyzed with percentages, means, t-test, ANOVA, Kruscal-Wallis one way ANOVA, Scheffe test and pearson correlation coefficients using the SPSS program. The results were as follows: 1. The mean for the degree of obesity in subjects was -1.26%. The 34.2% of the subjects were underweight, the 46.8% were normal, the 9.2% were overweight and the 9.8% were obese. The girls who perceived themselves obese were 39% and only the 47% of them were really over-weight and obese. 2. The mean score of body image was 139.30. It was 145.51 for underweight girls, 128.07 for normal weight girls and 125.17 for obese girls. The higher the degree of obesity was, the lower body image score was. The body image score of the girls who perceived themselves obese was significantly lower than that of the girls who perceived themselves normal or underweight. 3. The 65.1% of subjects experienced weight control practices. They reported that they had used the following weight control methods such as diet(42.2%), exercise(35.9%), diet and exercise(15.1%) and others including drug(6.8%). The degree of obesity was significantly higher and the body image score was significantly lower in the case of the girls who had weight control experiences than in the case of those who had no weight control experiences. 4. The 60% Of the subjects often had 2 meals per day. The 48.8% of the subjects tended to skip breakfast, the 7.8% would skip lunch and the 20% did not have dinner. The higher the degree of obesity was and the lower body image score was, the more the girls would skip their meals. In conclusion, many adolescent girls tended to believe their body weight heavier than their real body weight. Many girls who were not overweight and obese tried to lose weight. In the case of the girls whose degree of obesity was high or who perceived themselves obese, the body image score tended to get lower and the weight control practices tended to be increased.

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