Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Body Image and Weight Concern among Pakistani Adolescent Females

                                  http://mathewsopenaccess.com/dermatology-current-issue.html


Body image is usually measured in terms of weight status of an individual revealing its association with body satisfaction status. It has been observed in numerous cultural communities that a direct relationship between weight status and body dissatisfaction begins to develop in children entering puberty. This study was conducted among the female adolescents of Islamia Girls College Quetta. The participants included in this study were selected randomly keeping the sample size 100. Study was conducted with the help of a self-developed validated questionnaire and measured BMI category to find association between weight status and body dissatisfaction. Obtained results revealed that a high percentage of female adolescents were obese (62%) and (27%) were under the category of underweight because of their mal adaptive eating patterns leading to increased level of body dissatisfaction and also because of high levels of internalization and social comparison.

Schilder defined body appearance as a psychosocial aspect in which an individual forms a picture of his or her body in the mind. Body image influence many features of human behaviour such as feelings emotions, mindset, relationships etc. Therefore, effects of body image on an individual’s personality is prominent and extensive.Body image is usually measured in terms of weight status of an individual revealing its association with body satisfaction status. It has been observed in numerous cultural communities that a direct link between weight status and body dissatisfaction begins to develop in children entering puberty. Body image is perceived on the basis of individuals weight whether he or she is underweight, over or obese and usually a fat body has been discouraged or criticized among adolescent. A number of studies confirmed that overweight or obese adolescence indicates high levels of body dissatisfaction in both sexes. There may be a number of sociocultural and physical factors such as malnourished diet, decreased exercise and unhealthy weight control responsible for weight gain in adolescents leading to body dissatisfaction. 

Due to lack of reliability in measurement scales, we face a number of limitations in terms of socio-cultural background of the studied participants in investigating body image and body dissatisfaction relationship. Presently in Pakistan there is insufficient understanding and scarce literature available about how and when exactly weight concern is established in female adolescents. Therefore in this study we aimed to describe body image size perception among Pakistani adolescent females and its affiliation with weight status.Adolescent female students of Islamia Girls College Quetta was included in this study. Informed consent was obtained from these students selected at random keeping the sample size 100. Study was conducted with the help of a self-developed validated questionnaire designed to find information about eating patterns of individual participants and their perception regarding their body image. BMIs of the individuals 

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