Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

Introduction. This study assessed the differences in different domains of self-concept and perceived social support between overweight and normal-weight children in a primary school in Singapore. Secondly, it aimed to examine in normal-weight and overweight group whether the respective relationships between their body composition status and various domains of self-concepts could be mediated respectively by their perceived support from parents, classmates, teachers or school.

Method. 531 normal-weight and 233 overweight children aged 9 to 12 years old from a primary school in Singapore participated in this study. Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (2000) (Malecki, Demaray, Elliot & Nolten, 2000) was used to assess their perception of social support from parents, teachers, classmates and school. To examine their selfconcepts, the participants completed Self-Description Questionnaire-I (Marsh, 1990), which provided scores on their perception of Physical Appearance, Physical Abilities, Parents Relations, Peer Relations, General-School, and General-Self. MANCOVA analysis was conducted to examine the scores difference between overweight and normal-weight participants. Subsequently multiple regressions were performed to evaluate for specific perceived source of social support as mediator between body composition and different domains of self-concept.

Result. Overweight children reported significantly lower perception of Physical Appearance, Physical Abilities, Peer Relations, General-School and General-Self as compared with their normal-weight counterparts. No significant difference was found in perceived Parent Relations between both groups of children.

Similarly, these two groups did not differ significantly in their evaluation of perceived support from parents, teachers, and school. However overweight children have marginally lowered perception of support from their classmates than their normal-weight peers. In the normal-weight children group, positive perception of support from classmates mediated the relationship between their weight status and Peer Relations, and General-Self. Similarly, partial mediation was found between their weight status and General-School in this group of normal-weight children. However no evidence of mediation of perceived social support between overweight status and all domains of self-concept was found in the overweight group.

Discussion. Overweight children, in contrast with their normal-weight peers, could be experiencing weight related teasing from their classmates and, therefore, might not perceive their relationships with their classmates as supportive enough to influence their self-concepts positively. This study also demonstrates the importance of support from classmates in explaining relationship between weight status and self-concepts. To intervene at improving the supportive relationships between the overweight children and their classmates, schools and educators could partner together with parents and community stakeholders to implement group-based health and fitness programme that incorporate elements of inclusiveness regardless of weight status, social acceptance and character development. These measures, in turn, may reduce the impact of stigmatization related to childhood overweight and protect the self-concept development of overweight children.