Rancourt D, et al. – Study authors carried out this investigation to analyze the indirect effect of weight change intention on the association between weight status perception and BMI change among adolescents with overweight/obesity. Despite the fact that weight status misperception was protective against weight gain, weight change intention did not provide an explanation for this association.

Methods

• For the purpose of this study, two thousand, six hundred sixty-four adolescents were included with overweight/obesity (52% female) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
• Using multiple linear regression, longitudinal associations between Wave II weight status perception (accurate versus misperception) and intent to change weight (i.e., gain, lose, stay the same) on BMI change (Wave II–Wave IV) were analyzed.
• Using the Monte Carlo method, indirect effects of weight change intention were investigated.
• Analyses were stratified by gender.

Results

• Results of this study suggested that accurate perceivers (81.0% female; 60.1% male) were more likely than misperceivers (i.e., perception of “about the right weight”) to report weight loss intention (p < 0.001).
• Weight status misperception and weight loss intention individually were related to smaller (β = - 1.37, 95% CI [- 2.64, - 0.10]) and greater (β = 1.18, 95% CI [0.11, 2.25]) BMI gains, respectively among females.
• Fully adjusted models proposed that weight status misperception was related to significantly smaller gains in BMI over time (β = - 1.51, 95% CI [- 2.38, - 0.63]) among males.
• Findings revealed that weight change intention did not emerge as an indirect effect for either gender.