Treating obesity in children and adolescents improves self-esteem and body image, according to an analysis of all relevant studies published to date. The analysis, which is published in Pediatric Obesity , included 64 studies.
Losing weight appeared important for achieving improvements in body image but not self-esteem.
Our findings are encouraging as they show that pediatric obesity treatment can improve psychological as well as weight-related outcomes." Megan Gow, PhD, lead author, University of Sydney, in Australia Source:
Wiley Journal reference:
Gow, M.L., et al. (2020) Pediatric obesity treatment, self‐esteem, and body image: A systematic review with meta‐analysis. Pediatric Obesity. doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12600 .