. Echu Liu; . Su‑Hsin Chang
Volume 12, Issue 7 , August 2022, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Researchers have examined the association between self‑esteem and obesity inpast studies. However, most studies have focused on pediatric or adolescent populations. In ...
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BACKGROUND: Researchers have examined the association between self‑esteem and obesity inpast studies. However, most studies have focused on pediatric or adolescent populations. In thispilot study, we aim to explore the association of self‑esteem with weight status in young adults, agroup of individuals in a significant and pivotal period of their lives whose needs and challengeshave received little attention in previous studies.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Exactly 127 college juniors and seniors in the Midwest participatedin late 2017. For our survey, we collected the following information: body weight, height, self‑esteemscore from the state self‑esteem scale, grade point average, risk of eating disorders, sleep quality,nutritional behavior, lifestyle (smoking, frequency of exercise, alcohol drinking, average daily timewatching television, playing video games, and social media use), and demographic and socioeconomicbackground. We used logistic regression for our analysis.RESULTS: The logistic regression indicates that a one‑point increase in the self‑esteemscore was negatively associated with a young adult’s odds of having an unhealthy weight(being overweight or obese) by approximately 3%. Furthermore, soda drinking is a statisticallysignificant factor associated with weight status.CONCLUSIONS: This finding suggests self‑esteem is positively associated with a healthy weightin young adults. A larger‑scale study should be conducted in the future to validate this relationshipand better understand young adults’ needs.