Teenagers’ future diabetes risk perception

Abstract

Asians are often thought to have a poor ability to predict their future risk of diabetes. We studied perceptions of Type 2 diabetes future risk in middle school and high school students. All students watched two short videos about Body Mass Index (BMI) and diabetes. Afterwards, 300 students, ranging from 7th to 10th graders, took a short survey in their physical education classes. The survey gauged basic knowledge about diabetes, BMI, their view on their future risk of diabetes and asked them about various risk factors. Contrary to common thought, Asian students understood that they might have a higher risk than their non-Asian counterparts, and many responses in the survey suggest that they knew about diet differences and other cultural factors that account for the difference in risk.