IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0081021.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating the Biases Associated with Self-Perceived, Self-Reported, and Measured BMI on Mental Health

Author

Listed:
  • Mir M Ali
  • Travis Minor
  • Aliaksandr Amialchuk

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between individuals' perceptions of their weight-status, self-reported height and weight, and measured weight status. Methods: A national survey of 9,248 adolescents (47% male) between the ages of 11 and 27 is analyzed to determine whether inaccuracies in reporting are caused by misperception or conscious intent, and whether there tends to be a systematic bias in how individuals self-report. Self-esteem was used as an example of an important outcome variable in order to illustrate the magnitudes of the biases that may arise when using different measures of body size. Results: Our results indicate that measured obesity status is associated with the reduction in Rosenberg Self-Esteem (RSE) of 0.30 points (p-value 0.005) among adolescents and 0.20 points (p-value 0.002) among young adults; in addition, using self-reported height and weight as opposed to measured height and weight does not result in a statistically detectable difference in the estimates. Conclusions: Individuals' self-reports of height and weight are not as unreliable as we might have expected. Although estimates from measured height and weight are preferred, in the absence of such measures, self-reported measures would likely be a reliable alternative. The differences in self-perception of weight status, however, imply that it is not comparable to measured weight categories.

Suggested Citation

  • Mir M Ali & Travis Minor & Aliaksandr Amialchuk, 2013. "Estimating the Biases Associated with Self-Perceived, Self-Reported, and Measured BMI on Mental Health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-5, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0081021
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0081021
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0081021&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0081021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mir M. Ali & Aliaksandr Amialchuk & Francesco Renna, 2011. "Social Network and Weight Misperception among Adolescents," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 827-842, April.
    2. Mir M. Ali & Aliaksandr Amialchuk & Francesco Renna, 2011. "Social Network and Weight Misperception among Adolescents," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(4), pages 827-842, April.
    3. Mir M. Ali & Aliaksandr Amialchuk & Francesco Renna, 2011. "Social Network and Weight Misperception among Adolescents," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(4), pages 827-842, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Miething & Mikael Rostila & Christofer Edling & Jens Rydgren, 2018. "The Peer Context of Dieting: The Relationship between Young Adults’ Dieting Frequency and Their Friends’ Weight-Related Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Natalia Arias & María Dolores Calvo & José Alberto Benítez-Andrades & María José Álvarez & Beatriz Alonso-Cortés & Carmen Benavides, 2018. "Socioeconomic Status in Adolescents: A Study of Its Relationship with Overweight and Obesity and Influence on Social Network Configuration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Paolo Nicola Barbieri, 2022. "Social distortion in weight perception: a decomposition of the obesity epidemic," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 685-713, July.
    4. Anna Dzielska & Magdalena Woynarowska, 2022. "Psychosocial Predictors of Body Weight Congruence in Adolescents Aged 15 and 17 Years in Poland: Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Alexander Petre & Jeffrey Wagner, 2013. "Green Consumption under Misperceived Prices: An Application to Active Transportation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(1), pages 187-204, July.
    6. Fortin, Bernard & Yazbeck, Myra, 2015. "Peer effects, fast food consumption and adolescent weight gain," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 125-138.
    7. Ali, Mir M. & Amialchuk, Aliaksandr & Rizzo, John A., 2012. "The influence of body weight on social network ties among adolescents," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 20-34.
    8. Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy & Helen H. Jensen & Steven B. Garasky & Carolyn E. Cutrona & Frederick X. Gibbons, 2013. "Effects of Family, Friends, and Relative Prices on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption by African Americans," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(1), pages 226-251, July.
    9. Nie, Peng & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & He, Xiaobo, 2015. "Peer effects on childhood and adolescent obesity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 47-69.
    10. Mooney, Stephen J. & El-Sayed, Abdulrahman M., 2016. "Stigma and the etiology of depression among the obese: An agent-based exploration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-7.
    11. Evans, Clare R. & Onnela, Jukka-Pekka & Williams, David R. & Subramanian, S.V., 2016. "Multiple contexts and adolescent body mass index: Schools, neighborhoods, and social networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 21-31.
    12. Mir M. Ali & Aliaksandr Amialchuk & Song Gao & Frank Heiland, 2012. "Adolescent weight gain and social networks: is there a contagion effect?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(23), pages 2969-2983, August.
    13. Martin, Molly A. & Frisco, Michelle L. & Nau, Claudia & Burnett, Kristin, 2012. "Social stratification and adolescent overweight in the United States: How income and educational resources matter across families and schools," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 597-606.
    14. Prina, Silvia & Royer, Heather, 2014. "The importance of parental knowledge: Evidence from weight report cards in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 232-247.
    15. Ali, Mir M. & Rizzo, John A. & Amialchuk, Aliaksandr & Heiland, Frank, 2014. "Racial differences in the influence of female adolescents’ body size on dating and sex," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 140-152.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0081021. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.