Journal
ACTA PAEDIATRICA
Volume 98, Issue 3, Pages 501-506Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01112.x
Keywords
Adolescent girls; Body mass index; Body perception; Maternal perception; Waist circumference
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Funding
- Juho Vainio Foundation
- Finnish Cultural Foundation
- Erik Johan Ljungberg Educational Fund
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Aim: To study how waist circumference (WC) relates to body perception in adolescent girls and to maternal perception of the girl's body size. Methods: Three hundred and four girls, 11-18 years, were measured for height, weight and WC. 294 girls provided self-report data on weight, height and body image before anthropometric measurements. Paired data from 237 girls and mothers on perception of the girls' body size were collected. Results: In girls, self-reported weight indicated awareness of actual body size. The girls' body perception showed an overestimation of body size relative to international reference values for body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.05), but not for WC. Girls' body perception exceeded that of their mothers (p < 0.05). Maternal perception agreed better than the girls' perception with international reference values for BMI (p < 0.05). No significant difference between mothers and girls were found concerning agreement of body perception with international reference values for WC. Conclusion: WC rather than BMI agrees with perception of body size, possibly due to its relation to abdominal fat at different ages. For effective prevention and treatment programmes for weight-related health problems among adolescent girls, we recommend measuring WC to diminish the discrepancy between measured and perceived body size.
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