BMI and self-perceived body shape in Portuguese children

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Eduarda Maria Coelho (Author) Other; Cristina Padez (Author) Other; Pedro Moreira (Author) FCNAUP; Victor Rosado (Author) Other; Isabel Mourao Carvalhal (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Revista de Psicologia del Deporte

Vol. 22

Pages: 371-376

ISSN: 1132-239X

Publisher: Universitat de les Illes Balears

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 16 Citations

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Health sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-006-G03

Abstract (EN): Objectives: This study examined the relationship between Portuguese children's self-perceived body shape and body mass index (BMI) by gender, and BMI values were determined for each silhouette. Method: A sample of 4,211 children aged 7-10 was used. Their body image was assessed using Collins's body image silhouettes, while cole et al.'s cutoffs were used to define obesity. Results: The higher the number of the selected silhouette, the higher the mean BMI, except in the case of silhouettes 2 and 7 for boys and 7 for girls. Most of the individuals who selected silhouette number 5 or higher were obese. For both sexes, the ANOVA showed significant differences in the BMI depending on the selected figures (p < .001). The correlation coefficient between the body image silhouettes and the BMI was .54 (p < .001) for the total sample, .50 (p < .001) for males and .57 (p < .001) for females, in the regression models, the percentage of variance in the BMI explained by the selected images was 25.6% in boys and 30.8% in girls. Conclusion: The study suggested that in childhood (7-10 years), no stable awareness of body shape has been developed, with girls being more accurate than boys. The body shape obtained with the scale was moderately correlated with the BMI, suggesting that Collins' silhouettes could be a valid measure for assessing obesity in Portuguese children.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

Notes: <a href="http://gateway.isiknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=WOS&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=:000322752100009">Indexado na ISI Web of Science</a>

No. of pages: 6