Overweight in young adult students: the vulnerability of a distorted self-perception of body image

ABSTRACT

Objective:  To analyze overweight in young adult students from the individual dimension of vulnerability, especially its interpersonal and subjective markers.

Method:  An analytical quantitative study was performed with 560 young adults from 26 schools in a capital city in Northeastern Brazil. After obtaining data to administer specific questionnaires, logistic regression was used to identify markers of individual vulnerability.

Results:  In the bivariate analysis, overweight showed a statistically significant association with self-perception of health, satisfaction with body image and self-perception of overweight, the latter remaining in the final regression model.

Conclusion:  It can be mainly concluded that self-perception of overweight is distorted when compared to one's actual body weight and, for this reason, young adults are vulnerable to dysfunctional health states. However, it was confirmed that this health condition must be understood in an individual and contextual perspective.

Key words: Overweight; Obesity; Health Vulnerability; Body Image; Young Adult