Body image, weight management behavior, nutritional knowledge and dietary habits in high school boys in Korea and China

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is an important period with rapid physical growth transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Distorted body image can result in eating disorders or inadequate nutrient intakes in adolescence. Limited research has been done with high school boys in both Korea and China.

Objectives: To examine body image, weight control behaviors, nutritional knowledge, and dietary habits in Korean and Chinese teenage boys, and to evaluate any differences in these measures between two countries.

Methods and study design: High school boys in Yongin of Korea and Weihai region of China (n=201 Korean and n=196 Chinese) participated in a selfreport survey. A previously validated questionnaire assessed height and weight, body image, nutritional knowledge, and dietary habits. Descriptive statistics, t-test, Chi-square, and Pearson correlations were used for data analysis.

Results: About 41.4% of Korean students and 40.8% of Chinese students desired to be thinner. The majority of the students from both countries showed a perception gap between ideal body image and current body image. Korean students had a higher frequency of weight control attempts compared with Chinese students (p=0.004). Overall, Korean students had higher scores in nutritional knowledge (p<0.001), while Chinese students had higher scores in dietary habits (p<0.001). Nutrition knowledge in Korean students and dietary habit in Chinese students showed positive correlation with body shape satisfaction (p<0.01).

Conclusions: The findings of this study support that developing proper body image among high school boys is important in Korea and China. Different educational strategies might be beneficial to Korean or Chinese students.