Selected data on weight control behaviour of Korean middle school students in Jeonju/South Korea
- 15.01.2014
- English Articles
- Jeong-Ok Rho
Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: October 18, 2012 | Revision accepted: October 9, 2013
Background
According to data from the Korean Ministry for Health and Welfare for 2010 [1], 81.5 % of female pupils (12–18 years old) and 83.1 % of male pupils (12–18 years old) in South Korea were of normal weight; 6.5 % of female pupils and 3.6 % of male pupils were overweight; 12.0 % of female pupils and 13.3 % of male pupils were obese.
In the context of health support and prevention for adolescents, various weight reduction programs have been implemented in Korean schools in recent years [2–4]. For example, the Korean Ministry for Health and Welfare supports the program to prevent overweight, the so-called “Fun & Run Health Camp” [5]. Each regional school authority is responsible for carrying out this program during the summer holidays. Overweight children and adolescents take part in this program, together with their parents and teachers, as well as nutritional scientists and sports doctors. This program generally contains three sections: body development, nutritional knowledge and behaviour and an exercise program.
Summary
Between April and May 2011, 334 male and female schoolchildren in the seventh and eighth classes in 6 middle schools in Jeonju (South Korea) were asked about their behaviour with respect to weight control. The group consisted of 49.4 % girls and 50.6 % boys, with an average age of 15.3 ± 0.7 and 15.5 ± 0.5 years, respectively. 85.5 % of the girls and 82.2 % of the boys were of normal weight. More than two thirds of the girls and boys watched television for less than 2 hours a day. About one third of the girls and half of the boys regularly engaged in sport. One third of the girls and one quarter of the boys thought that they were “slightly too fat” or “too fat”, even though their body mass index (BMI) lay within the normal range. Almost half the boys and girls had attempted to lose weight. 63.8 % of the girls and 30.2 % of the boys of normal weight had attempted to diet in order to lose weight. Half of the girls and a quarter of the boys said that the most important reason they did this was “to improve their appearance”. In order to lose weight, the girls often attempted to eat less or to eat nothing late in the evening. The boys preferred physical activity to lose weight.
Keywords: weight control behaviour, dieting habits, BMI, body image, adolescents, pupils, Korea
