Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

A Close Relationship Between Weight Status, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Risk Behaviors in a Sample of Italian Late Adolescents

Maria Francesca Lodovica Lazzeri
,
Francesca Mastorci
* ORCID logo ,
Paolo Piaggi
,
Cristina Doveri
,
Irene Marinaro
,
Gabriele Trivellini
,
Anselmo Casu
,
Caleb Devine
,
Lamia Ait-Ali
,
Cristina Vassalle
,
Alessandro Pingitore
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 13 November 2023 / Approved: 14 November 2023 / Online: 14 November 2023 (10:22:52 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Lazzeri, M.F.L.; Mastorci, F.; Piaggi, P.; Doveri, C.; Marinaro, I.; Trivellini, G.; Casu, A.; Devine, C.; Ait-Ali, L.; Vassalle, C.; Pingitore, A. A Close Association between Body Weight, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Risk Behaviors in a Sample of Italian High School Students. Nutrients 2023, 15, 5107. Lazzeri, M.F.L.; Mastorci, F.; Piaggi, P.; Doveri, C.; Marinaro, I.; Trivellini, G.; Casu, A.; Devine, C.; Ait-Ali, L.; Vassalle, C.; Pingitore, A. A Close Association between Body Weight, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Risk Behaviors in a Sample of Italian High School Students. Nutrients 2023, 15, 5107.

Abstract

Adolescents experience rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth with different factors that contribute to health and well-being. In this view, an important role is played by body weight and its perception. The aim of this study was to determine, in a sample of Italian late adolescents, whether health related quality of life (HRQoL) is associated with the different weight status categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese), even considering sex differences. Data were collected from 1826 adolescents (n=735 males). HRQOL was analyzed using the Italian version of KIDSCREEN-52. Overweight adolescents showed a reduced psychological well-being (p<0.05) and self-perception (p<0.05), then other BMI categories. Subjects with obesity reported an increased bullying victimisation (p<0.05), reduced self-perception and eating disorders (p<0.001), while underweight were characterised by an altered adherence to the Mediterranean diet (p<0.001), eating disorders (p<0.001), and problematic use of social media (p<0.05). No sex differences were found, except for socio-economic status perception, where underweight girls reported a higher economic well-being than boys (p<0.05). Our results may suggest that there is an association between weight status categories and HRQoL, more pronounced in underweight and overweight adolescents. The association between BMI categories and psychosocial dimensions opens the need to define specific domains on which such preventive interventions should focus, always through a personalized perspective.

Keywords

health; bodyweight; well-being; adolescents; HRQoL; school

Subject

Public Health and Healthcare, Other

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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