ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Recently, the State of Kuwait has witnessed a steady rise in the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents. The present study aims to provide an update on the rate of overweight or obesity among Kuwaiti adolescents and examines the associations between adolescents' overweight/obesity levels and their perception of body weight as seen by parents or friends. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kuwaiti secondary schools and included adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 years, using a multistage stratified random sampling method. Body weight and height were measured. A specifically designed self-report questionnaire was used to assess parents' and friends' perceptions of an adolescent's body weight. RESULTS: A total of 706 adolescents were included the study. The prevalence of overweight or obesity among Kuwaiti adolescents reached nearly 50%, with males (54.3%) having a significantly higher overweight or obesity percentage than females (44.6%). No significant difference in the prevalence of obesity relative to age, from 15 to 18 years, was found. In addition, logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age and gender, revealed that adolescents perceived their parents (p = 0.011 and p < 0.001) or friends (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001) as more likely to classify their weight as overweight or obese, respectively. CONCLUSION: Overweight or obesity levels appear to be high among Kuwaiti adolescents, and appears to have reached a plateau recently. Efforts to combat obesity and promote physical activity and healthy nutrition are needed. Future studies should seek to identify important moderators of parental and social underestimation/overestimation of children's overweight or obesity.
Subject(s)
Friends/psychology , Obesity/epidemiology , Overweight/epidemiology , Parents/psychology , Social Perception/psychology , Adolescent , Body Height , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Health Promotion , Humans , Kuwait/epidemiology , Logistic Models , Male , Obesity/psychology , Overweight/psychology , Prevalence , Self Report , Sex CharacteristicsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Although emotional eating is positively associated with serious health problems such as obesity and eating disorders, it is rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of emotional eating among urban adolescents in Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world. METHODS: A multistage stratified sampling method was used to select adolescents aged 14-18 years from governmental schools in Khartoum State, the capital of Sudan. The total sample selected was 945 (507 males, 438 females). A self-reported validated questionnaire was used to collect the data. RESULTS: Of the males, 57% eat mostly or sometimes while watching television, compared with 62% of females (p<0.036). Females were more likely to eat when angered than males (9.6% and 5.7%, eat mostly when angered, respectively, p<0.02). There were no statistically significant differences between males and females regarding eating late at night, eating when bored and eating when anxious. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that emotional eating is a growing problem among urban adolescents in Sudan. This creates the need to incorporate emotional eating in any prevention plan to promote healthy eating among these adolescents.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Emotions , Feeding Behavior/psychology , Adolescent , Developing Countries , Feeding and Eating Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Obesity/psychology , Psychology, Adolescent , Self Report , SudanABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Body image in the mass media promotes an unrealistic picture of body shape that leads to body dissatisfaction among adolescentsQuery. Therefore, the study presented in this paper aimed to assess the association between mass media and adolescents' weight concerns and perceptions of body weight and shape. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on school adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years during the academic year 2013-2014. Multistage stratified sampling method was used. The number of participants in the study was 795 students: 400 boys and 395 girls. RESULTS: All participants have a common behavior in rarely reading magazines, but they spend more than 2 h in watching television or less than 3 h using the internet. However, most of obese/non-obese adolescents, boys or girls, have shown high influence (p < 0.05) of reading magazines on the subject of dieting to lose weight. CONCLUSION: While obese students read more magazines on dieting to lose weight, other mass media did not show the same results on weight concerns and body shape among Jordanian adolescents.
Subject(s)
Body Image/psychology , Body Weight , Mass Media/statistics & numerical data , Obesity/psychology , Adolescent , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Jordan/epidemiology , Male , Obesity/epidemiology , Obesity/etiology , Sex Factors , StudentsABSTRACT
This paper aimed to assess the prevalence of known diabetes among Bahraini adults, and to determine associated social and lifestyle factors. A community-based survey was carried out on 514 adults aged 30-79 years. The overall prevalence of known diabetes was 9%. Using multivariate analysis, the risk of diabetes was found to be higher among older (50-79 years), female, illiterate, currently married, non-smoking people, those who did not walk regularly, overweight and obese people (BMI > or = 25), those who had a history of hypertension and those who consumed fresh vegetables more than 3 times a week. However, only obesity was found to be significantly associated with diabetes (OR = 1.83, CI 1.48-4.15).
