import.ml hl'.llth rislo..? Intcmati(\na! Joumal of Eating DiS
Family Functioning and Psychosocial Adjustment in Overweight Youngsters
Margree t Stradrneiier;' loop Bosch.' W ille m Ka aps, I , an d Jaap Seidell" Department of Dev eloprncntal l'sychol ogy, Free Univ crsity. Arnstcrd.un, TIlt' Ne therlands I~ IVM , Dep nrtment for Chronic Disca ses and Environrnenta l Ep idernio logy, Biltho ven, Th e Ne the rlands 1
2
Abstract : Objective : Ta analyze the rel,l /iol15hip between f./lJlily [unctioning nnd psvchosocial adiu stm en: in Dut ch o verweigbt chik ire n and tï do lescents. Method : Seventy-three overweight (weig ht-for- heigh l >P90) and lO norma l-weight youllgs lers hetw een the ages of / 0 and / (, years were rectuited hl' school physicialls during routine tnedica! screening . The Fam il )' Dimension Scsle, tho Chi ld Behavior Checklist, the Teseher Repo rt Farm, the Seli Perce ived Compotenee Scalc, and the Body- Es leem Sce!e \\ -ere (illed out, as wel! as a speettic w e ight-related question ns ire . Results: Bath paren 15 .nu! tescbers report mo re behavior problems in o verwe ighl ebilelren. p.lrtiCtJlar/)' in the younger th,lIl 13 ase group. Lower bod yesteem was iound in ok ler u\f
the stud ies foeu sin g on se lf- and body-est eem (Kap lan & Wadden , 1986; Banis et al., 1988; Braet , 1997; Mendelsen & White, 1982, 1985; Fren ch , Perry, Leon & Fu lke rso n, 1995). However, developmental pcrspecti ves on the self- and bod y-est eem of overweight ch ildren are se rious ly lacking in the literature (Woo dy , 1986; Fren ch et a l., 1996). Thi s study fOCUSl'S on the age-rela ted cha nges and sex differen ces in beh a vior problems a nd sclf-estec m . Fu rthe rmo re, ge nera l fami ly fu nctioning as well as weight-specilic parental (overjconcern are investiga ted in relatio n to the we ight status of the chi ld .
METHOD Subjects O ne hundred forty- th ree chi ld ren (73 overweigh t and 70 normal weight) a nd their parerits participated in this study (Tab le 1). The child ren a re between 10 to 16 years of age and a re di stributed eq ua lly across age, sex, soc ioeco no mie sta tus (SES), and school lev els. Subjects wcre reeruired by school d octor s a nd nurses of a Basic Health Serv ice. Weightfor-height abo ve 1'90 (Roede & Van Wieringen , 1985) es tablished overwe ight. Furthermore, the wh ole group wa s d ivid ed into tw o age and tw o weight groups, that is, (p rej p ubc rta l child ren (10-13 yea rs) a nd (yo u ng) adolescen ts between 13 a nd 16 ye a rs of ag e and rnod erately «132%) and sev erely overweight child ren (20 132%).
Instrum ent s and Mea surem ent s
Th c Fam ily Dimert sion Scales (FOS; Buurmeijer & Hermans, 1988) assesses famil y fun cHoning on three subsca les: Cohesion, Adaptability, and Social Desirability, TI1e FD5 wa s cornp leted by the mot hers. The Child Behavier Checklist (CBCL) and the Tea cher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach , 1991; Verhuist, 1990) aSSl'SS the ch ild 's beh avi er p robl ems as judged by parerits (CBCL) and teachers (TRF). The Out ch ve rs ion of the Self-Porce p tion Profile for Ch ildren (SI' I'C; Harter. 1985; Veerman, 1989) assesses the chi ld 's g loba l pe rcep tio ns o f solf-es tee m a nd d omain-spcc ific [ud gements of their compe tence. The six dorriains are scho lastic co rnpe tence, socia l ac-
TabI" 1. Sample cha rac tc ris tics Overwcight Ahl.'
Iormal- weight
13.47 IU)
13.52 (1.3)
41 32 134.17110.7)
42 28 07.511° .11'
2530(3 .3) 26.05 (3.5)
22.1>1 13.3)'
Se" Boys (n) Girl~( n)
";.oW B~II
Mother Father
2~ AO(2.lW
No tc: M (50) , " = co unrs. % OW = pe rcent ovcrwcight . BMI = bodv rnass ind ex. •"
