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While the increased prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has become a public health concern in South Korea, there have been an idealization of thinness and a stigmatization of fatness especially for female body. Since adolescence is a period when youths form their body image, the sociocultural preoccupation with thinness could have detrimental effects on their subjective well-being (SWB), not only for those who are overweight but also for those who perceive themselves to be overweight. This study aims to examine the mean differences in Korean adolescents’ SWB among 3 groups of actual & perceived overweight status: (1) actual and perceived normal-weight (ANPN), (2) actually normal-weight but perceived overweight (ANPO), and (3) actual and perceived overweight (AOPO), focusing on gender differences.
Methods
This study analyzed the nationally representative 12-year-old subsample (n=2,607) of the 2013 South Korean data of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being. Cognitive SWB, life satisfaction, was measured by a mean score of 5 items from 11-point Huebner’s Student Life Satisfaction Scale. Emotional SWB, positive affect, was measured by a mean score of 6 items from 11-point Russell’s Core Affect. Actual overweight was defined as self-reported BMI above the 85th percentile in the same sex group, while actual normal-weight as between the 5th and 85th percentile. Perceived overweight was measured by self-reported weight status of being “fat” or “very fat”, while perceived normal weight as being “adequate.” Actual & perceived overweight status were categorized into four groups: ANPN (n=999), ANPO (n=548), AOPO (n=351), and AOPN (n=19). The AOPN group was excluded due to the small group size. Actually or perceived underweight adolescents (n=572) were also excluded.
The researcher performed the two-way MANCOVA using Wilks’s lambda criterion. After confirming the significant interaction effect, the simple main effect was analyzed by gender. Individual health-related factors (i.e. chronic illness and disability) and family socio-economic status (i.e. household poverty, parental education, and family structure) were included as covariate factors.
Results
The results of two-way MANCOVA showed significant effects of actual and perceived overweight status (p<.001) and gender (p<.001) as well as their interaction effect (p<.05) on life satisfaction and positive affect, after controlling for the influences of covariate factors. The following one-way MANCOVA, conducted separately by gender, showed that there was no significant effect of actual and perceived overweight status for boys. For girls, however, actual and perceived weight status had a significant effect on life satisfaction (p<.001) and positive affect (p<.001). The post-hoc tests using Bonferroni correction reported that ANPN girls showed higher life satisfaction (p<.001) and more positive affect (p<.05) than ANPO and AOPO counterparts. However, there were no significant differences in subjective well-being between ANPO and AOPO girls.
Conclusion/Implications
The results suggest that actual and perceived overweight status is not associated with SWB for Korean adolescent boys, but significantly related with Korean girls’ SWB. Since the perception of being overweight is negatively associated with both life satisfaction and positive affect even for actually normal-weight girls, interventions that could promote healthier body image particularly for Korean girls are necessary.