Adolescent Essay Essay

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and research a problem faced by adolescents and the community’s response to resolving the problem. This paper will examine, that childhood obesity and how it is a growing disease that has become an epidemic in Canada that can cause psychological effects on a child. Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child’s health or wellbeing. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of obesity in children and its many adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health concern. Childhood obesity is a growing illness in Canada as well as all over the world that causes psychological effects on children. There are three main psychological effects that child obesity has on children; low self esteem, high levels of depression, as well as more behavior problems. Children and adolescents with obesity face stigmatization and discrimination in many areas of their lives, and it has been assumed that their psychological well-being will be compromised as a result. Based on a study completed from the Journal of Pediatric Psychology they found a strong correlation between child obesity and psychological effects of the child. The study that was completed explored the relationship between obesity and psychosocial adjustment in a combined clinical and nonclinical sample of 139 obese children and 150 non–obsess children (ages from 9 to 12 years and matched for age, socioeconomic status, and gender) who filled out the Perceived Competence Scale for Children; their parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist. All obese children, independent of their help–seeking status, status, reported more negative physical self–perceptions than their non-obese peers and they scored lower on general self–worth. According to their parents, the obese children of the clinical sample appeared to have more behavior problems. Findings suggest that psychopathology depends on a clinical obese status, and they provide evidence for a psychosocial at–risk profile for a subgroup of obese children.