Artigos Originais March 01, 2012 March 01, 2012

Overweight and obesity in school children: association between biopsychological, socioeconomic and behavioral factors

DOI: 10.1590/S0004-27302012000200008

OBJECTIVE: To verify the association between the behavioral, biopsychological, and socioeconomic factors in overweight and obese students. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The sample involved 393 students from state and private schools in Florianópolis/SC, mean age of 9.9 ± 1.7, with 41% male subjects. A questionnaire adapted from Oliveira e cols. was applied in the interview; anthropometric information (body mass and height) was used to calculate the BMI, and individuals were classified in overweight and obese according to Conde and Monteiro. RESULTS: As for the distribution of obesity and overweight by gender, girls showed a similar degree, while among boys, overweight individuals represented 77% of the sample. There were associations between female gender, economic status, ethnicity, school, and type of food with p ranging from < 0.001 to 0.003. CONCLUSION: It was found that the behavioral, biopsychological, and socioeconomic factors seem to interfere with overweight and obesity in students of Florianópolis.