Purpose
The aim of this study was to assess the body weight perception of adolescents and to investigate the difference between mental health and weight control behavior according to body weight perception.
Methods
Study data on 12-18 years old adolescents with normal BMI was obtained from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2015). Rao-Scott Chi-square test and ANOVA were used for the analysis.
Results
The percentage of adolescents with a misperception of body weight was 43.3%, and their subjective health status (p=.013), stress perception (p=.001), and depression (p=.001) were worse than for adolescents who had the correct perception of their body weight. The percentage of adolescents who were trying to lose weight while perceiving their body weight as normal was 36.9%. Body weight control behavior had significant differences according to dietary intake (frequency of eating dinner (p=.015)), energy intake (p=.004), and carbohydrate intake (p<.001), but there was no significant difference according to exercise.
Conclusion
Parents, school teachers, and nurses should make efforts to ensure that Korean adolescents perceive their body weight correctly, and prevent unhealthy weight control behaviors.

Citations

• The relationship between adolescents’ perceived body image, weight control efforts, and experiences with the use of drugs including narcotics
  Hyun-Jae Woo, Hae-Young Kim
  Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion.2025; 42(2): 13.     CrossRef
• Network analysis based on big data in social media of Korean adolescents’ diet behaviors
  JongHwi Song, SooYeun Yoo, JunRyul Yang, SangKyun Yun, YunHee Shin, Girish C. Melkani
  PLOS ONE.2022; 17(8): e0273570.     CrossRef
• Does perceived overweight increase risk of depressive symptoms and suicidality beyond objective weight status? A systematic review and meta-analysis
  Ashleigh Haynes, Inge Kersbergen, Angelina Sutin, Michael Daly, Eric Robinson
  Clinical Psychology Review.2019; 73: 101753.     CrossRef
• Effect of Body Image Distortion on Mental Health in Adolescents
  Hyun Jung Yun
  Journal of Health Informatics and Statistics.2018; 43(3): 191.     CrossRef