The influence of body image and gender in adolescent obesity

Background: Body image is a perception of our physical appearance. Weight misperception in adolescent lead to body dissatisfaction and obesity in adolescent. Gender also plays a role in adolescent obesity and body image. Obese adolescents have greater risk of non-communicable diseases than adolescents with normal weight. therefore, this research aims to discover body image and gender influence on adolescent obesity. Method: This study is an observational design with cross sectional approach. The study was conducted in November 2019 at SMK Negeri 9 Surakarta. The subjects were 57 sophomore that were chosen randomly with simple random sampling. Body image and obesity were measured using MBSRQ-AS questionnaire, BMI for Age Charts and waist circumference. Data was processed by independent T-test, fisher exact test, logistic regression test with significance value p <0.05. Results : There is a significant difference in body image scores between obese and non obese group (p = 0.006) and male students scored higher in every aspect of body image than female students. A significant relationship was found between body image and obesity (p=0,045), and gender with obesity (p = 0.009). Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between body image and gender with obesity in adolescents and body image scores differ significantly between obese and non obese group and between male and female students. (Health Science Journal of Indonesia 2020;11(1):22-6)