Cross-sectional psychosocial differences between clinical and nonclinical samples of overweight adolescents

Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the psychosocial characteristics of overweight adolescents involved in a clinical program and compare them to two reference groups of populations living in the same region (overweight and normal weight). Design: The intervention group included 76 overweight adolescents who followed a multidisciplinary obesity program. The reference/community groups included 399 overweight and 413 normal-weight adolescents from the 2006 Portuguese survey of Health Behaviour School Children, a cross-sectional and international World Health Organization collaborative study. All variables were measured by the 2006 Health Behaviour School-Age Children self-reported questionnaire. Results: Comparisons between groups showed that adolescents following the program reported more psychological symptoms and lower scores in life satisfaction, health perception, body image and appearance. On the other hand, they reported more frequent physical activity and fruit consumption when compared to the overweight community group. Additionally, they watched less television than normal-weight community adolescents. Adolescents seeking clinical treatment had the lowest psychological scores; in regard to the lifestyle behaviour, the results were marginally higher. Conclusion: Physical activity and appearance represented two key predictors of life satisfaction that usually indicate modified barriers to weight change and wellbeing. The differences between genders will also be discussed further.