We’re not worried about our health, say Scotland’s overweight teens

OVERWEIGHT Scottish teenagers are not worried about their health, according to new research, prompting experts to call for a new way of engaging young people about tackling obesity.

OVERWEIGHT Scottish teenagers are not worried about their health, according to new research, prompting experts to call for a new way of engaging young people about tackling obesity.

A study of young adults that asked their views looking back at their weight and health in adolescence found minimal concern and ambivalence. The subjects, all from the west of Scotland, said being overweight was just one of any number of teenage concerns, that they were not significantly bullied or isolated because of their weight.

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None of the limited sample of 35 people said they had any health concerns.

Some of those interviewed for the qualitative study even said they turned their weight into positives by repelling bullies because of their size.

Helen Sweeting, one of the authors of the report and a senior investigator scientist at the MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, part of Glasgow University, said parents may be overly cautious about what they say to children about weight.

She said: “It is a very small sample, but we know they were obese or overweight [in their teen years] and none said they had been concerned about their health at all, so emphasising the health message may not be a very good way to engage them.

“They weren’t concerned about their health, and some said it didn’t really bother them.

“We don’t want to make obese youngsters stressed or distressed, but somehow we have to find a way of getting people to be concerned enough to do something about it.

“Perhaps people are a bit frightened about mentioning weight because it will induce eating problems.

“Some teens who are concerned have less need to be concerned, and some who we would say have more need to be concerned, were not.”

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She added: “The health messages that go across are very confused. Any story on obesity is accompanied by a picture of someone who is very, very obese, and that has become the image of who is obese.

People who look ‘normal’ can be actually obese. Our notion of the cut-off for ‘obese’ is too high.”

Participants in the research were part of a large-scale study that had measured their height and weight at ages 11, 13 and 15. Those invited for an interview at age 24 had all been obese or overweight as teenagers.

Thirty-five agreed to be interviewed about their teenage lives, during which they talked about their experiences and opinions of weight and health.

Of the total, 26 were obese and another nine were overweight. Charlotte Wright, a professor of community child health at Glasgow University and another author of the report, published in the International Journal of Obesity, said: “You have to overcome this lack of interest. They were all aware they were overweight, but they were just not bothered about doing anything about it. That is a problem across all age ranges.”

CASE STUDIES

Eilidh: ‘I still met boys, it didn’t bother me’

“At my biggest I was 16 stone. By the time I was 16 I think I was a size 24. I was pretty big, so that always was in my head.

“It’s weird cos all my friends look back on it as well and say: ‘we didn’t realise that you were the size that you were’. They knew I was big but they didn’t realise I was that big.

“I didn’t acknowledge it much until I was really big. But it didn’t really affect [me], I still met boys and went out with guys and stuff so no it never really bothered me too much.”

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Jenny: ‘Everybody was always saying my problem is I don’t worry enough’

“I’ve always been pretty healthy, not so much fit or anything but no major health issues. I was never really that envious of people or anything like that. Cos I did realise they, no matter how good the looks on the outside, I’m sure they’ve got problems too so it never bothered me, anything like that... I never worried about anything.

“Everybody was always telling me that my problem is I don’t worry enough. I’d never been skinny but I was never like overweight when I was younger. Up until I like hit puberty and I put on loads of weight.”

Geoff: ‘Always been big... that’s who I was’

“I’ve always been a bit heavy, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned about it.

“That’s who I was, I couldn’t really change that. I’ve always been big. Even as a child I was always quite chubby, so there’s not much I can, well when you’re wee you can’t do anything it’s just the way you are.”