Abstract
Excess weight has been associated with numerous psychosocial problems and is considered to be one of the most important health problems of today. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between weight status, which is evaluated by means of the body mass index (BMI), and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction (LS) variables in Spanish adolescents, as well as to examine whether gender influences this interrelationship. A total of 1197 subjects studying in their 1st and 4th years of high school (mean age: 14.4 years, SD: 1.69) participated in the study by completing the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) questionnaire. Then, the participants were grouped into the following categories: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. The results show that boys have significantly higher HRQoL as well as higher levels of LS. On the other hand, only the obese group shows significantly lower scores in both HRQoL and LS than those in the normal-weight group. The interaction of weight category and gender does not have a significant impact on the variables that have been analyzed (HRQoL or LS).
Highlights
In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the Spanish and world population [1], with a significant rise in the child and youth population, as indicated by recent studies [2]
This study aims to analyze the effect of weight status, as assessed through the body mass index (BMI), on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction (LS) in a sample of Spanish adolescents
The results obtained in this study of Spanish adolescents partially confirm the first proposed hypothesis since differences in health-related quality of life and life satisfaction are only observed between the obese group and the normal-weight group
Summary
There has been a significant increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the Spanish and world population [1], with a significant rise in the child and youth population, as indicated by recent studies [2]. Excess weight has been associated with numerous concerns connected to biomedical [3] and psychosocial orders [4], and it is considered one of the most important health problems facing humanity today [5]. In adolescence, body image becomes important in the development of one’s self-concept and has an influence on self-esteem and interpersonal relationships with peers [12,13]; for this reason, it is foreseeable that the higher the weight and the worse the body image, the worse the psychosocial indicators will be, and the subjective or perceived quality of life and life satisfaction. Public Health 2020, 17, 3106; doi:10.3390/ijerph17093106 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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