BMI Distribution and Body Image of Korean High School Students in Gyeonggi Province

Abstract

In order to investigate BMI distribution and body image of Korean high school students for nutrition education, a cross‐sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire. The subjects were 493 high school students (male 241, female 252) in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The data were analyzed with SPSS 12.0 program. According to the standard of the Korean Obesity Association, the students whose BMI was below 18.5 as underweight, between 18.5 and 22.9 as normal, between 23 and 24.9 as overweight, and 25 or more as obese. As for the distribution of weight by BMI, there was a significant difference between male and female students; 41.1% of the male normal, 31.5% overweight, 14.5% underweight, 12.9% obese and 51.6% of the female normal, 26.5% overweight, 16.3% underweight, 5.6% obese(p<0.01). As for body image, there was a significant difference between male and female students; 44.2% of the male students who have normal weight perceive themselves as fat, whereas 61.6% of the female students who have normal weight perceive themselves as fat(p<0.001). As for an ideal body shape, there was a significant difference between male and female students; 80% of the male students answered to have normal figure, 13.7% did thin figure, while 59.1% of the female students answered to have normal figure, 37.7% did thin figure(p<0.001). Therefore, personalized nutrition education by gender should be provided to correct distorted body image of high school students in Gyeonggi Province, Korea.