O'Dea J A, Caputi P
Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, Building A35, NSW 2006, Australia.
Health Educ Res. 2001 Oct;16(5):521-32. doi: 10.1093/her/16.5.521.
The aim of the study was to examine the effect of socioeconomic status (SES), age, weight and gender on the body image and weight control practices of children and adolescents, and to investigate whether health education about weight issues should target low socioeconomic groups. The study participants were a randomly selected group of school children who completed a questionnaire, and had their height and weight measured. Participants (n = 1131) were aged 6-19 years from 12 schools in New South Wales. SES, age, gender, body weight, body image, skipping breakfast, physical self-esteem, attempts to lose or gain weight, and dietary and weight control advice received from others were examined. Log-linear, chi 2 and MANOVA analyses were used to determine interactions between variables. Low SES children were more likely to be overweight, to skip breakfast, to perceive themselves as 'too thin', to be trying to gain weight and less likely to receive dietary or weight control advice. Physical self-esteem was lowest among overweight girls of middle/upper SES and greatest among boys of low SES, despite the latter being more likely to be overweight. Being overweight does not appear to adversely affect the physical self-esteem of children of low SES, particularly boys. Health educators should examine these issues with young people to help make health education and nutrition education most relevant and appropriate.
本研究的目的是考察社会经济地位（SES）、年龄、体重和性别对儿童及青少年身体意象和体重控制行为的影响，并调查关于体重问题的健康教育是否应针对社会经济地位较低的群体。研究参与者是一组随机抽取的在校儿童，他们完成了一份问卷，并测量了身高和体重。参与者（n = 1131）来自新南威尔士州12所学校，年龄在6至19岁之间。研究考察了社会经济地位、年龄、性别、体重、身体意象、不吃早餐、身体自尊、试图减肥或增重以及从他人那里获得的饮食和体重控制建议。采用对数线性分析、卡方分析和多变量方差分析来确定变量之间的相互作用。社会经济地位较低的儿童更有可能超重、不吃早餐、认为自己“太瘦”、试图增重，并且不太可能获得饮食或体重控制建议。尽管社会经济地位较低的男孩超重的可能性更大，但身体自尊在中/高社会经济地位的超重女孩中最低，在社会经济地位较低的男孩中最高。超重似乎并未对社会经济地位较低的儿童，尤其是男孩的身体自尊产生不利影响。健康教育工作者应与年轻人探讨这些问题，以帮助使健康教育和营养教育最具相关性和适宜性。
