Evaluation of the relationship with obesity and prejudice and self-respect in high school students

Obesity is one of the most common health problems in the world. Although its prevalence is increasing, it causes low self-esteem with attitudes such as prejudice and discrimination. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between obesity and prejudice and self-esteem in high school students. The population of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 1731 students studying at the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades of Toki Köprülü Anadolu Lisesi ve Vehbi Güzel Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi between September and November 2021, and 1438 students (83.07%) who wanted to participate in the study were sampled. Data were collected with descriptive features form, Obesity Bias and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Also for statistical analysis SPSS package program was used. In this study 57.1% of the participants are female students and expenses of the 80.9% students are equal to their income. In the BMI classification of the students, 12.3% are overweight and 1.3% are obese. As a result 13.7% of normal weight people consider themselves as overweight. In addition 44.7% of weak students have low self characteristics also 60.2% of the low-self students are female students and 74.3% of the students in this group are not satisfied with their weight. Moreover 67.1% of female students are prejudiced. Students who do not define themselves as prejudiced (98.3%) are prejudiced against obese (98.3% of the 93.3%). That fact 68.4% of obese students think that their self-esteem will decrease when they gain weight. According to statistical data 67.8% of the students do not like themselves. There was no statistical significance between BMI and obesity bias (p>0.05). Also there is no statistically significant difference was found between the students' grade, BMI, age, income, and self-esteem according to the obesity bias classification.