Impact of obesity and overweight upon Studentʼs; Psychosocial development in intermediate school in Baghdad AI-Habibiyah District

Abstract

Back ground: the obesity is a complex issue that affects children across all age groups & become a global epidemic but the understanding of the problem in children is limited due to lack of comparable representative data from different countries and varying criteria for defining obesity Since the obesity has emerged as one of the global health problems with 200 million school-aged children worldwide categorized as being overweight/obese, of which 40-50 million are obese. The present study aims to assess the impact of obesity & overweight upon psychosocial status of students of intermediate school at AI-Habibiyah District in Baghdad city.

Methodology: a descriptive cross –sectional study which was carried out at the school in Al-Habibyia district, Baghdad from September 2022 to may 2023, the study sample consisted of 65 participants out of(797)who fulfilled the criteria for participation in the study. Data collected by using of anthropmetry measurement for BMI the result of equation applied on the chart of WHO of BMI and questionnaire formats fillfuled. An interviewing & self administrative as a method used to collect data. Calculatation of the percentage & frequency use for the statistical analysis of the study

Result: Through the study, it was concluded that there is a close link between obesity and social communication for adolescents and its great impact on their mental health until an increase in lack of confidence and lack of self-esteem due to the image of their bodies and thus not practicing their lives properly like the rest of their peers from adolescents, such as forming relationships and friendships and practicing their daily activities, as well as excessive use of social media, which caused them not to participate in sports and motor activities in general.

Conclusions: The studies concluded that the body image affected by obesity was high, and because of it, self-confidence decreased, so that there was a plan to improve the body image, and exposure to bullying because of obesity occurs at school.

Recommendations: Developing school services programs to support obese students to improve their quality of life, educational courses for school  teachers on obesity-related social disorders that affect the psychological and social status of students & providing psychological counselling to students who suffer from obesity-related social disorders