Flourishing and academic engagement among adolescents with overweight and obesity

Kristie Rupp; Stephanie M. McCoy

doi:10.1515/ijamh-2018-0180

Article

Flourishing and academic engagement among adolescents with overweight and obesity

Kristie Rupp and Stephanie M. McCoy

Published/Copyright: November 29, 2018

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From the journal International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health Volume 33 Issue 4

Abstract

Background

Overweight and obesity in adolescence are associated with several negative health indicators; the association with flourishing, an indicator of overall well-being, is less clear.

Objectives

To examine associations between weight status and indicators of flourishing and academic engagement in adolescents.

Subjects

Analyses included 22,078 adolescents (10–17 years) from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health.

Methods

Adolescents were grouped according to body mass index (BMI) classification; outcomes included indicators of flourishing and academic engagement. Logistic regression models assessed the odds of each outcome comparing adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity to healthy weight adolescents.

Results

For flourishing, adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity were less likely to stay calm during a challenge (17% and 30%, respectively; p < 0.01); adolescents with obesity were 30% less likely to finish a task they started (p < 0.001), and 34% less likely to show interest in new things (p < 0.001) in comparison to healthy weight peers. Adolescents with obesity were 26% less likely to care about doing well in school (p < 0.001), and adolescents with overweight and adolescents with obesity were significantly less likely to complete all required homework (19% and 34%, respectively) (p < 0.001), in comparison to healthy weight peers.

Conclusions

A comprehensive approach to addressing overweight and obesity in adolescence should target improving academic engagement and flourishing to promote overall well-being.

Keywords: academics; adolescence; flourishing; obesity

Acknowledgments

This study was presented as an abstract at The Obesity Society Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on November 2nd, 2017. All work for this study including requesting data, statistical analysis, and manuscript preparation was conducted equally by the co-authors KR and SM. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2018-0180).

Received: 2018-08-09

Accepted: 2018-10-09

Published Online: 2018-11-29

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2018-0180

Keywords for this article

academics; adolescence; flourishing; obesity