Introduction: self-perception of weight and physical fitness, aesthetic reasons to diet, self-weighing as a way to feel better and body image perception have been related to a constellation of risks to develop both body image dissatisfaction and eating behavior disturbances, especially among adolescents.
Objectives: to analyze weight self-perception and self-reported physical fitness, to explore the links between these variables and weight control behaviors, to explore possible relations among weight self-perception, self-reported physical fitness, dieting, self-weighing frequency and body mass index (BMI)/body image and to analyze the relation between all these variables and different eating behaviors.
Methods: a total of 336 students (mean age of 12.46 ± 2.14; 47.62% females) took part in this study. Different scales were administered (weight self-perception and self-reported physical fitness, dieting, self-weighing frequency, body image perception, eating behaviors) and height and weight were measured in order to obtain the BMI.
Results: mean BMI was 20.18 ± 3.58 and 41.14% of participants had overweight/obesity. Among those who perceived themselves as overweight,76.92% were girls. More than 70% of participants reported average or good physical fitness and more boys reported good or excellent physical fitness. Almost 60% of participants who planned to diet for aesthetic reasons were girls, and girls more than boys self-weighed to feel better. BMI was significantly correlated with body image dissatisfaction/restrictive eating.
Conclusions: there are clear links between weight self-perception, body image, dieting, self-weighing and eating behaviors at an age which might be considered as a starting point to eating behavior disturbances.