Gender, ethnicity, psychosocial factors, and quality of life among severely overweight, treatment-seeking adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To examine gender and ethnic differences in psychosocial functioning among 100 (78% African American and 59% girls) treatment-seeking overweight 11- to 18-year-old adolescents. Self-esteem was examined as a potential mediator of the association between weight-related teasing and quality of life (QOL).


METHODS
Adolescents completed measures evaluating self-esteem, dietary habits, teasing, and QOL.


RESULTS
Few racial or gender differences were found. Mean QOL was similar to that reported in another study examining treatment-seeking overweight adolescents and substantially lower than what has been reported for non-treatment-seeking overweight adolescents. Self-esteem partially mediated the association between teasing and QOL.


CONCLUSIONS
Severely overweight adolescents of both genders and diverse ethnicities face significant stigmatization and manifest poor overall psychosocial functioning, which is negatively associated with QOL. Furthermore, self-esteem appears to partially mediate the negative relationship between teasing and QOL.
Stern
Marilyn
M
Department of Psychology and Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University, 808 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23284, USA. mstern@vcu.edu
Mazzeo
Suzanne E
SE
Gerke
Clarice K
CK
Porter
Jerlym S
JS
Bean
Melanie K
MK
Laver
Joseph H
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011584:Psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires