Adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ and peers’ opinions about their body weight

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the associations between adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ and peers’ opinions about body weight and their actual weight status. Design/methodology/approach A total of 795 Jordanian adolescents, 15-18 years of age, were recruited in this study. Adolescents completed a questionnaire to evaluate their perceptions: about how their parents’ and peers’ viewed their weight, regarding any criticism of their parents and peers about their weight and if their parents compared their weight against their siblings. Findings The study found that the majority of non-overweight adolescents thought their parents and peers considered them to have a normal weight (94.9 and 94.6 per cent for boys, 76.6 and 85.5 per cent for girls, respectively). For obese girls, 83.4 per cent thought their parents and 91.7 per cent thought their peers perceived them as overweight. The risk of being obese was significantly related to the amount of parental criticism perceived by adolescent girls with OR = 3.9 (95 per cent CI: 1.6-9.4; P = 0.01), while perception of peer criticism showed an increased trend of risk for obesity in boys. Adolescents’ perceptions regarding parental comparisons between their body weights against their siblings’ body weight was found to increase the risk for obesity significantly among girls. Originality/value The current study highlights that most of the obese adolescents perceived that their parents and peers underestimated their actual weight status. While obese boys were more likely to report being criticized about their body shape by their peers, obese girls indicated that they received more criticism about their weight from their parents.