Physical self-concept and physical activity of overweight adolescent girls

Pages: 378-382
M. Ramya Maheswari and Sheela Hemalatha Julius (Research and Development Centre, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore)

The aim of the current investigation is to compare the physical self – concept of overweight and non overweight adolescent girls and to find if exist, a relationship of physical self-concept with weight status and levels of physical activity among overweight adolescent girls. Expost-facto research design was used for the present study. The sample consists of 50 overweight and 50 Non-overweight adolescent girls in the age range of 16-17. Body Mass Index categorized overweight adolescent girls from their non -overweight counterparts. It is hypothesized that over-weight and non- overweight adolescent girls will not differ in their physical self – concept. Richard’s Physical self – concept scale (1987) was used to collect data. The scale measures seven factors of physical self concept namely body build, action, appearance, health, physical ability, strength and satisfaction. Descriptive statistics, t tests and Pearson’s r were used to analyses data. Results showed that there was no significant mean difference between overweight and non-overweight adolescent girls on various dimensions of the physical self- concept scale and the relationship between physical self – concept and physical activity was found to be weak and non-significant