Teenagers no longer care about being overweight
A study on “International Health Behavior in School-Age Children” led by WHO analyzed survey data from approximately 750,000 adolescents at four-year intervals between 2002 and 2018 from approximately 750,000 adolescents, of whom 51 percent were girls and 49 were boys . . According to the result, it was found that there was an increase in the number of young people who do not care about being overweight, do not overestimate their weight or see less. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Sevcan Karakoç stated that according to the results of the study, adolescents do not care that they are overweight even if they are overweight, so they tend to maintain their current weight by not following a healthy program. to follow.
“A study that examines how body image actually shows a trend”
Prof. Dr. Sevcan Karakoç said: “This is a WHO-led study that collects the available data between 2002 and 2018. It contains data from almost 750 thousand young people. A study with children between the ages of 11 and 15 and pre-adolescence, which we call the school age. A global study, there are data for about 41 countries, but there is no data for Turkey. Since we do not follow these young people systematically every 4 years, data from some countries such as Turkey are missing. There are data from some 41 countries, including 750,000 young people, with an average age of about 13 years, of which 51 percent are girls and the rest are boys. It was published in a world famous obesity magazine.
The interesting part of the data is that body image actually shows a trend, where does the trend go over the years? This study is a study that investigates this. Something similar was seen in fact there used to be a tendency to look thin anorexia noticing one’s own body image as getting fatter and thinning but the result of this research is a study of perceived body weight where young people underestimate their weight, but actually underestimate it. If we say it in a language that everyone can understand, even if the person is overweight, he considers himself a normal weight. Children and young people in this age group stated that even if they are obese, it is not a major problem.”
“Even if she’s overweight, she doesn’t care that she’s overweight”
Karakoç said: “This also has some results. There may be some deviation from a healthier lifestyle. The good thing was that feeling fat and following a strict diet was also unhealthy. But even though he is now very overweight, he does not care that he is overweight and does not fit into a healthy program because his perceived body image is underestimated. She maintains her current weight. For 2, 3 years, our world experienced a pandemic. Among the negative consequences of the pandemic are time spent at home, a sedentary lifestyle, internet addiction and disrupted eating patterns. The data from this study refer to the pre-pandemic period. But the next time it’s published, it will probably include pandemic data, and since these young people actually entered the pandemic with a distorted body image, it will come back to us in the form of increased weight and obesity as a pandemic outcome. said.
“Seen more in girls”
prof. Dr Karakoç said: “Boys also have the perception of the muscular image of the athletic body as if they are overweight, like ‘I should gain more weight if I’m overweight, exercise’. This can have consequences such as increased obesity, unhealthy living conditions, strenuous sports in the early days because they mimic a muscular body structure, and failure to achieve the required growth. Interestingly, it was seen more in girls. Men were able to evaluate their own body in a healthier way, they don’t underestimate their weight, girls underestimate their weight, and cultural reasons and the developing countries were presented in this,” he said.
“Families should not emphasize the weight of their children too much”
Arguing that parents should not have an oppressive attitude towards their children’s obesity and should follow a common sports program, Prof. Dr. Karakoç said: “We see this in the clinic, there is a lot of pressure from some families, for example, because their children are obese and overweight. Parents constantly complain about their child’s weight, the child is actually not there at all. Because the teen doesn’t feel overweight, he actually eats more in response. He puts weight on himself as an act of conflict or defiance with his family. Perhaps a little more awareness of the output of this article. Families have a duty. Families should actually get a printout of this. They should not overemphasize children’s weight and they should implement a diet and exercise program that involves them.
