TY - JOUR
T1 - Mismatch in Children’s Weight Assessment, Ideal Body Image, and Rapidly Increased Obesity Prevalence in China
T2 - A 10-Year, Nationwide, Longitudinal Study
AU - Min, Jungwon
AU - Fang Yan, Alice
AU - Wang, Youfa
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding agencies: The present study is funded in part by a research grant from a Global Center of Excellence Award (NIH, U54 HD070725), which was led by Professor Youfa Wang. The U54 project (U54 HD070725) is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH. During 2010-2011, as the principal investigator, Professor Wang led an international collaboration team consisting of more than 50 investigators from multiple institutions in several countries, designed the project, and secured funding support from the NIH and partner institutions, as well as established an obesity research center at Johns Hopkins University. The content of the paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders. Disclosure: The authors declared no conflict of interest. Author contributions: JM was responsible for the research idea, study design, data management and analysis, interpreting the analysis results, and drafting the manuscript. YW directed the study, secured research funding, provided administrative support, and critically revised the manuscript. AY critically revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to study design, data analysis, and writing of the manuscript. JM had full access to the data used in the study, and all authors had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. Received: 11 April 2018; Accepted: 18 August 2018; Published online 3 October 2018. doi:10.1002/oby.22310
Funding Information:
The present study is funded in part by a research grant from a Global Center of Excellence Award (NIH, U54 HD070725), which was led by Professor Youfa Wang. The U54 project (U54 HD070725) is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH. During 2010-2011, as the principal investigator, Professor Wang led an international collaboration team consisting of more than 50 investigators from multiple institutions in several countries, designed the project, and secured funding support from the NIH and partner institutions, as well as established an obesity research center at Johns Hopkins University. The content of the paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Obesity Society
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Objective: This study examined secular trends in children’s weight-status assessment, measured weight status, and ideal body image and their associations with subsequent changes in BMI, and it explored the differences between sociodemographic groups in China. Methods: Longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey of 4,605 children aged 6 to 17 collected between 2000 and 2011 were used and fitted to mixed models. Results: From 2000 to 2011, overweight/obesity prevalence increased from 6.5% to 16.8%, but the percentage of children with self-perceived weight status as “fat” remained around 2.0%; 49.0% of children underestimated their weight status at baseline. Self-perceived body image of most participants was tracked during follow-up. Children who perceived themselves as being fat at baseline had a higher BMI increase over time during follow-up than those with an average body image (β [SE] = 0.99 [0.14] kg/m2 per year, P < 0.001). Boys, young children, recent cohorts, and rural children had higher BMI increases than their counterparts. Over time, the thin-body silhouette became more desirable (8.4 percentage points higher, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Chinese children experience a large incongruence between their weight-status assessment, ideal body image, and actual weight status. Health promotion programs should examine their role in assisting children in developing a healthy body image and gaining greater self-motivation toward promoting a healthy lifestyle.
AB - Objective: This study examined secular trends in children’s weight-status assessment, measured weight status, and ideal body image and their associations with subsequent changes in BMI, and it explored the differences between sociodemographic groups in China. Methods: Longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey of 4,605 children aged 6 to 17 collected between 2000 and 2011 were used and fitted to mixed models. Results: From 2000 to 2011, overweight/obesity prevalence increased from 6.5% to 16.8%, but the percentage of children with self-perceived weight status as “fat” remained around 2.0%; 49.0% of children underestimated their weight status at baseline. Self-perceived body image of most participants was tracked during follow-up. Children who perceived themselves as being fat at baseline had a higher BMI increase over time during follow-up than those with an average body image (β [SE] = 0.99 [0.14] kg/m2 per year, P < 0.001). Boys, young children, recent cohorts, and rural children had higher BMI increases than their counterparts. Over time, the thin-body silhouette became more desirable (8.4 percentage points higher, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Chinese children experience a large incongruence between their weight-status assessment, ideal body image, and actual weight status. Health promotion programs should examine their role in assisting children in developing a healthy body image and gaining greater self-motivation toward promoting a healthy lifestyle.
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U2 - 10.1002/oby.22310
DO - 10.1002/oby.22310
M3 - Article
C2 - 30281208
AN - SCOPUS:85054361929
SN - 1930-7381
VL - 26
SP - 1777
EP - 1784
JO - Obesity
JF - Obesity
IS - 11
ER -