Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Eating Behavior
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1484077

The relationship between body appreciation and weight-related health behaviors among Chinese adolescents

Provisionally accepted
Yuyuan Zhong Yuyuan Zhong 1Ying Chen Ying Chen 1Meng Wang Meng Wang 2Bian Lu Bian Lu 3Ting Shen Ting Shen 4Jing Hu Jing Hu 1Fengyang Jiang Fengyang Jiang 1Hongmei Wang Hongmei Wang 1*
  • 1 Department of Social Medicine of School of Public Health and Department of Pharmacy of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
  • 2 Hangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (HZCDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 3 Xiaoshan District Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
  • 4 Xihu District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Research on body appreciation has flourished globally in recent years. College students and adults, rather than adolescents have been mainly focused in China. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the current status of body appreciation and weight-related health behaviors among Chinese adolescents, and elucidate their multifaceted relationships. A total of 487 students from two junior high schools were selected through stratified cluster sampling for this cross-sectional study conducted in Hangzhou city, China. Data were collected by using the questionnaire including the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2), the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A), and the self-designed Food Frequency Questions. The study shows current status of body appreciation among Chinese adolescents, with a majority categorized as physically inactive and having unhealthy dietary behaviors, leading to abnormal weight. Notably, this study provides novel evidence linking body appreciation with positive weight-related behavioral outcomes in both physical activity and dietary behaviors (such as sufficient fruit and vegetable consumption and reduced fried food intake) among Chinese adolescents. Besides, this study also reveals the impact of gender, mother's education, and household income on weightrelated health behaviors among adolescents. These findings present empirical evidence for the development of intervention programs aimed at fostering body appreciation and promoting weight-related health behaviors in adolescents.

    Keywords: body appreciation, Weight-related health behaviors, physical activity, Dietary behaviors, Chinese adolescents

    Received: 23 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Chen, Wang, Lu, Shen, Hu, Jiang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hongmei Wang, Department of Social Medicine of School of Public Health and Department of Pharmacy of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.