Parents Factors For Adolescent Overweight And Obesity And Psychological Condition

OBJECTIVE:To explore the association between the related factors of parents and adolescents'weight status and psycho-behavioral problems among adolescent students, so as to provide epidemiology evidence for the prevention and control of overweight and obesity delivered to large segments of adolescents.METHODS:A total of 724 students in grade 9 were selected from 3 junior high schools in Shanghai. The survey was conducted among the adolescent students and their parents. The students completed the questionnaire consisting of weight and height status, self-perceived social status, perceived somatotype of their parents, dietary behavior, unhealthy weight control practices, depressive mood by Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and anxious mood by Trait-Anxiety Inventory (T-AI). The parent's questionnaire was consisting of healthy diet consciousness, dietary behavior, and perceived weight status of child. The parents were divided into two groups according to the median score of parents'healthy diet consciousness and diet behavior scale. The students were divided into two groups according to the CES-D scores, the score of 15 as the criterion. The students were reasonably classified into three groups as the low, middle, high trait anxiety level according to P25, P75 of T-AI scale.RESULTS:Among all of the students,44.6% participants were boys and 54.6% were girls. The age of them was between 14 to 17 years old and the average age was 14.67±0.54. The percentage of overweight and obesity students was 12.1%. The mean BMI score was 19.55±0.12.As to the mean BMI score, there was no significant difference between these two groups in parents education level (P>0.05) and self-perceived social status (P>0.05) neither; while, the significant difference was found in the different groups of parents' weight status reported by adolescent students (P=0.009 for fathers, P=0.042 for mothers, and P=0.004 for both parents). The students who had overweight and obese mother, father or both were apt to become overweight or obese in adolescence.The parents were divided into higher score group and lower score group according to the median score of their healthy diet consciousness and diet behavior scale in questionnaire. The percentages between the students with higher score parents and those with lower score parents were found to be significantly different in all of the 8 dietary behaviors, respectively. As a whole, the Pearson coefficient of correlation between students BMI and parents scores of the healthy diet consciousness and diet behavior scale was 0.084(P=0.029<0.05). However, the percentage of overweight/obesity and mean BMI score of the students whose parents belonged to higher score group were not significantly higher than the other group.The Pearson coefficient of correlation between student scores of CES-D scale and parents scores of the parents healthy diet consciousness and diet behavior scale was-0.119 (P=0.002<0.05). The Pearson coefficient of correlation between student scores of T-AI scale and parents scores of the parents healthy diet consciousness and diet behavior scale was-0.150 (P=0.000<0.05). The percentage of students without depression whose parents belonged to higher score group was lower than those whose parents belonged to the lower score group (P=0.043 for males, P=0.002 for females).In boys, we found statistically significant association between the score of parents got and the anxiety level of the children.The students were divided into overweight/obesity group and control group according to parents' perceived weight status of their children. It was found that the percentages of the two groups in all of the 12 dietary behaviors were not found significant difference (all P>0.05), but significant difference was found between these two groups in the percentage of unhealthy weight control practices both among the boys and girls (P=0.000 for males;P=0.000 for females). Both boys and girls whose parents assessed them as overweight or obesity had significantly higher percentages of unhealthy weight reduction practices than the others.CONCLUSION:Parents can impact adolescents not only on overweight and obesity but also on weight reduction and mental status. We'd better carry out school-family-community intervention program in the future to create a healthier living circumstance for adolescents.