Parc Taulí Mental Health collaborates with a UAB study on the perception of adolescent boys by their body weight

• November 20, 2014
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The work has analyzed the effect of perceived weight on the behaviors of adolescent boys to lower or control their weight. The researchers recorded in situ the height and body weight of 597 boys between the ages of 13 and 16, mostly middle-class and of Spanish origin - the study also included participants of Latin American, North African, European and sub-Saharan origin.

In addition, they were asked how they perceived their weight — low weight, normal, light overweight, very overweight — if they had been dieting for the past year, and what behaviors they performed to control or lose weight. 65% had a normal weight - according to the scales of the Body Mass Index -, 19% overweight, 7% obese and 8% underweight.

The study found that up to 28% of boys were inaccurate in their assessment of body weight. Among young people with low weight, 43% overestimated it, while 86% of those who were very overweight - obese - underestimated. It was also underestimated by 40% of those who were overweight, which was appreciated with a normal weight. The majority of young people with normal weight - 85% - were right and 5% reported a perception of overweight

Most studies on weight perception have been conducted among adolescent girls. The few studies that have included boys have analyzed the whole, without considering the differences between underweight boys and overweight boys, and the differences between the sexes - boys tend to underestimate their weight and girls overestimate it - or they have not made use of exact measurements of height and weight.

Press release (UAB Press Room)