Self-perceived Body Image in Relation to Mental Health of South Korean Adolescents

Abstract

My study is designed to investigate the differences in self-perceived body image in terms of gender and school year, as well as mental health state based on self-perceived body image. For this, I utilized data from the 15th Korean Youth Health Behavior Online Survey (2019), conducted by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The main questions that I address are whether there is a difference of self-body perception between male and female adolescents, whether there is a difference of self-body perception based on school year, and whether there is a difference of mental health state in terms of self-perceived body image. In terms of self-perceived body image differences between gender, it was the case that more girls categorized themselves as fat than boys. In terms of self-perceived body image differences by school year, older students were more likely to categorize themselves as fat. For differences in mental health issues by self-perceived body image, students who categorized themselves as fat ranked the highest percentages in all mental health problems. Based on these findings, I discussed some implications and limitations as well as suggestions for further research.