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Perceived body shape, standardized body-mass index, and weight-specific quality of life of African-American, Caucasian, and Mexican-American adolescents

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Abstract

Purpose

To examine associations among perceived body shape, standardized body-mass index (zBMI), and weight-specific quality of life in African-American, Caucasian, and Mexican-American adolescents, aged 11–18 years.

Methods

Self-report questionnaires were administered to 454 adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age, of whom 53% were females, 33% were Caucasians, 30% were African-Americans, and 37% were Mexican-Americans. Thirty-four percent had a healthy zBMI, 20% were overweight, and 46% were obese.

Results

In examining the adjusted R-square and R-square changes among stepwise regression models, the model with depressive symptoms (adjusted R-square = 0.34), perceived body shape (adjusted R-square = 0.49), and female sex (adjusted R-square = 0.53) appears to be the most parsimonious and explanatory model for these data. Race/ethnicity and age did not enter the equations, due to their significance levels being greater than the probability of removal (0.1).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the importance of including the perceptual measures of weight-specific quality of life and perceived body shape in studies of and interventions with overweight and obese adolescents. Including these perceptual measures may provide increased insight into the motivations and values of overweight and obese youth and thus be useful for designing more effective weight interventions.

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Abbreviations

CDC:

Centers for disease control and prevention

n :

Sample size

QoL:

Quality of life

zBMI:

Standardized body-mass index

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a grant to Donald L. Patrick, Ph.D., MSPH (PI) from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (Grant #R01 DK071101). The authors thank Aprille O’Neill-Kemp for her help in conducting the study and preparing the manuscript, and Lee Barr for her assistance with the data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Campus Box 359455, Seattle, WA, 98195-9455, USA

    Todd C. Edwards, Donald L. Patrick, Anne M. Skalicky & Yi Huang

  2. Department of Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrea D. Hobby

Authors
  1. Todd C. Edwards
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  2. Donald L. Patrick
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  3. Anne M. Skalicky
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  4. Yi Huang
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Correspondence to Todd C. Edwards.

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Edwards, T.C., Patrick, D.L., Skalicky, A.M. et al. Perceived body shape, standardized body-mass index, and weight-specific quality of life of African-American, Caucasian, and Mexican-American adolescents. Qual Life Res 21, 1101–1107 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0019-0

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