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Yonsei Med J. 2009 Jun;50(3):340-344.
Published online 2009 June 23.  doi: 10.3349/ymj.2009.50.3.340.
© Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2009
The Influence of Weight and Height Status on Psychological Problems of Elementary Schoolchildren through Child Behavior Checklist Analysis
Bongseog Kim,1 and Mi Jung Park2
1Department of Psychiatry, Sanggyepaik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Korea.
2Department of Pediatrics, Sanggyepaik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Dr. Mi Jung Park, Department of Pediatrics, Sanggyepaik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Sanggye 7-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-707, Korea. Tel: 82-2-950-1075, Fax: 82-2-951-1246, Email: pmj@paik.ac.kr
Received June 25, 2008; Revised December 24, 2008; Accepted December 24, 2008.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to evaluate weight and height status and their relationship with psychological problems among elementary schoolchildren.

Materials and Methods

A total of 405 schoolchildren (211 boys and 194 girls, aged: 10-13 years), living in Seoul, Korea, participated in this study. The participants were divided into 3 groups according to their weight and height standard deviation score. Psychological assessments were performed using the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Results

In this study, 34.4% of boys and 32.1% of girls showed dissatisfaction with their weight, whereas 26.2% of boys and 30.2% of girls showed dissatisfaction with their height. The obese group showed higher weight dissatisfaction than the normal or underweight groups (p < 0.001). The short stature group showed higher dissatisfaction in their height than the normal group (p = 0.01). There was no significant difference in total CBCL problems score according to weight or height status. The underweight and obese groups had higher score for social problems than normal weight group (p < 0.05 respectively). There were no significant differences in each CBCL problem score by height status. As a whole, the prevalence rate of a CBCL total problems score in the clinical range was 3 percent (12/405). These children showed no difference in terms of weight or height, compared with normal students. Among the factors related, only school performance was negatively correlated with the total problems score (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

Approximately one-third of elementary schoolchildren were dissatisfied with their height or weight. Although their total CBCL psychological problem scores were closely related with school performance, they did not show any significant relation with height or weight status. Contrary to the general view, our study suggests that psychological problems of elementary schoolchildren may be related more with their school performance than their body physique.

Keywords: Height, weight, psychologic problems, elementary schoolchildren.
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