Main Article Content
The effect of obesity on the physical self-concept of urban school children living in Potchefstroomareas of South Africa
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of obesity on the physical self-concept of urban school children living in Potchefstroom,
South Africa. A total of 277 (127 boys and 150 girls) children aged 11-13 years from urban schools in Potchefstroom voluntarily participated in cross-
sectional, observational research study conducted in 2007. Stature and body mass were measured according to the International Society for
Advancement of Kinanthropomet ry (ISAK). The children were classi fied into three groups of normal, overweight and obese according to BMI cut-off
point suggested by Cole, Bellizzi , Flegal and Dietz (2000). Susan Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents was used to assess the self-percept ion of children. Descriptive statist ics of means and standard deviations as well as frequencies were calculated for the data. Nonparametric t-test was
employed to test significant di fferences between boys and girls among the three groups. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post -hoc test were
calculated to examine the effect of obesity on the children’s physical self-concept. The results showed that overweight and obese children were tal ler and heavier than their normal counterparts. Furthermore, the resul ts showed that the overweight or obesity status significantly affected boys physical acceptance (F7.02 =2.62, p <0.05) as compared to the
normal ones. In addition, the overweight or obesity status significantly affected girls scholastic competency (F3.93 =0.35, p <0.05), athletic
competence (F 4.58 =0.30, p <0.05) and behavioral acceptance (F5.84 =0.31, p <0.05) than the normal ones. It is concluded that overweight and obesity status affects the physical sel f-concept of social
acceptance, scholast ic competence and behavioural acceptance of the children. The effect of overweight and obesity on the physical self-perception of school children should be considered in planning
obesi ty management strategies for preventive health care.
South Africa. A total of 277 (127 boys and 150 girls) children aged 11-13 years from urban schools in Potchefstroom voluntarily participated in cross-
sectional, observational research study conducted in 2007. Stature and body mass were measured according to the International Society for
Advancement of Kinanthropomet ry (ISAK). The children were classi fied into three groups of normal, overweight and obese according to BMI cut-off
point suggested by Cole, Bellizzi , Flegal and Dietz (2000). Susan Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents was used to assess the self-percept ion of children. Descriptive statist ics of means and standard deviations as well as frequencies were calculated for the data. Nonparametric t-test was
employed to test significant di fferences between boys and girls among the three groups. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post -hoc test were
calculated to examine the effect of obesity on the children’s physical self-concept. The results showed that overweight and obese children were tal ler and heavier than their normal counterparts. Furthermore, the resul ts showed that the overweight or obesity status significantly affected boys physical acceptance (F7.02 =2.62, p <0.05) as compared to the
normal ones. In addition, the overweight or obesity status significantly affected girls scholastic competency (F3.93 =0.35, p <0.05), athletic
competence (F 4.58 =0.30, p <0.05) and behavioral acceptance (F5.84 =0.31, p <0.05) than the normal ones. It is concluded that overweight and obesity status affects the physical sel f-concept of social
acceptance, scholast ic competence and behavioural acceptance of the children. The effect of overweight and obesity on the physical self-perception of school children should be considered in planning
obesi ty management strategies for preventive health care.
