1. Weight perception and suicide ideations among obese adolescents Sanghee Lee and Abrea Johnson

2. Background Obesity among students is on the rise - 10.7% in 1999 -12.1% in 2003 -13.0% in 2007 Weight perception has been linked to suicide ideations -what is weight perception? -what is suicide ideation? Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in people ages 10-24

3. Study Purpose Investigate gender and ethnic differences in weight perception among obese students Investigate gender and ethnic differences in suicide ideations among obese students Investigate relationship between weight perception and suicide ideations including gender and ethnic differences

5. Obesity defined as BMI percentile over 95%

6. Weight description categories defined as:-very underweight, slightly underweight, about the right weight, slightly overweight, very overweight Suicide ideation categories defined as: -feeling sad or hopeless, ever considered suicide, make a suicide plan, attempt suicide, all in the past 12 months

7. Method Descriptive statistics: - graphs, tables, bar charts Inferential statistics - ANOVA, Contingency tables analysis, Binary logistic regression

8. Results Weight perception - significant gender differences were found -obese females were more accurate in weight description than males

9. Results Weight perception - significant ethnic differences were found - obese American Indians and African Americans were the least accurate

10. Results

11. Results Suicide ideations - significant differences found in feeling sad (p=.042) or hopeless and ever consider suicide (p=.015) between obese students and all students

12. Results Suicide ideations -significant differences found between males and females in all suicide ideation categories

13. Results Obese students who described themselves as “very overweight” were more likely to report “feeling sad or hopeless” and “ever consider suicide” than obese students that describe themselves as “about the right weight” (all p-values <.05) Same finding for obese females vs. males Same findings for obese Caucasians and Hispanics

14. Conclusion Weight awareness programs need to target certain populations: -African Americans -American Indians -Males Weight loss programs that not only focus on reducing weight, but also build self esteem, especially in obese females are needed Lifestyle changes such as: -exercise -healthy diet