Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Mar;6(1):63-70.
doi: 10.1007/s13679-017-0246-y.

Obesity in Children and the 'Myth of Psychological Maladjustment': Self-Esteem in the Spotlight

Andrew J Hill  1
Affiliations
Review

Obesity in Children and the 'Myth of Psychological Maladjustment': Self-Esteem in the Spotlight

Andrew J Hill. Curr Obes Rep. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose of review: There are contrasting views regarding the psychological well-being of children with obesity. Responding to limitations of existing evidence, Jane Wardle in 2005 argued for a 'myth of psychological maladjustment'. This review looks again at self-esteem.

Recent findings: The different characterisations of self-esteem each offer value. Global self-esteem is reduced in nearly all studies of youth with obesity. Dimensional self-esteem reveals physical appearance, athletic and social competence as the most affected areas, confirmed by research that has operationalised low self-competence. Children with obesity are also more likely to be victimised by their peers, generally and for their fatness. Victims who bully others appear to preserve some aspects of self-esteem. A relatively small proportion of youth with obesity has low self-esteem, but those with severe and persistent obesity are especially compromised. Weight loss is only weakly associated with improved self-competence suggesting the value of resilience and asset approaches to improving well-being.

Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Obesity; Peer relationships; Self-esteem; Victimisation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Andrew J. Hill declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Peer popularity nominations received by fat-victimised (light columns) and non-victimised (dark) children. Previously unpublished results from [28, 29]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wardle J, Voltz C, Golding C. Social variation in attitudes to obesity in children. Int J Obes. 1995;19:562–569. - PubMed
    1. Pierce JW, Wardle J. Cause and effect beliefs and self-esteem of overweight children. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1997;38:645–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01691.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wardle J, Cooke L. The impact of obesity on psychological well-being. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005;19:421–440. doi: 10.1016/j.beem.2005.04.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Flodmark CE. The happy obese child. Int J Obes. 2005;29:S31–S33. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803060. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Coopersmith S. The antecedents of self-esteem. San Francisco: WH Freeman; 1967.