Body weight perception and physical activity among young adults: Analysis from the national longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health

Abstract

Objective

To identify the young adults’ perception of their weight and examine the associations between young adults’ weight perception and physical activities. Participants: A total of 4,882 participants’ responses were derived from the Add Health, Wave III. Method: Chi-square tests were used to examine the weight perception and multinomial logistic regression used to assess the association between weight perception and physical activities. Results: Perceived weight and weight management among male participants were significantly different from female participants (p<.001, p<.001, respectively). Young adults with self-perception of being “slightly overweight” and “very overweight” were more likely of participating in physical activities such as gymnastic/weight lift/strength (OR = 0.91, p <.001 and OR = 0.77, p<.001) and walking (OR = 1.08, p<.001 and OR = 1.13, p<.001). Conclusion: The study showed that physical activities significantly increased the probability of accurate perceived weight. Steps should be taken to implement interventions that increase accurate weight perception and promote physical activity among young adults.

Keywords:

• Exercise
• misperception of weight
• perceived weight
• physical activity

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Miss. Madhoolika Nema, Editorial Assistant for the Nursing Science Division, Rutgers School of Nursing, for editing our manuscript.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.