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영어

Purpose: The study aimed to examine female middle school students' body mass index(BMI), subjective body shape perception & health perception, and weight control efforts over 30 days, and to identify factors influencing the objective measure of obesity, as BMI. The data from the 19th (2023) Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey were used. Methods: The study targeted 11,587 female students from grades 1 to 3 in middle school. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 20.0 through cross-tabulation, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. Results: The third-grade students had the highest overweight and obesity rates, while the first-grade students had the highest underweight rates (p trend <.001). Among students classified as 'underweight' by BMI, many perceived their body shape as 'slightly overweight' or 'very overweight.' Even those with a 'normal' BMI perceived themselves as 'slightly overweight' or 'very overweight’. Additionally, students with a 'normal weight' BMI perceived their health as 'unhealthy' or 'very unhealthy,' while 'underweight' students perceived themselves as 'somewhat healthy' or better. Regarding weight control efforts over 30 days, both 'underweight' and 'average weight' students reported making efforts to 'reduce weight.' BMI showed a positive correlation with subjective body shape perception, subjective health perception, and 30-day weight control efforts. Among these, the factor associated with BMI was grade, subjective body shape perception & weight control efforts over 30 days which explained 62.2% of the variance. Conclusion: Given the importance of adolescence as a critical period for transitioning to adulthood and the emphasis on body image perceived by others, it is crucial to guide adolescents to develop a proper body shape perception and awareness of a healthy appropriate weight. This study may be he basic data to provide foundational data for developing various programs to support this goal.