Behavioural and Psychological Variables Associated with Overweight and Obesity in Gran Canaria, Spain

Abstract

Objective: To obtain data of the prevalence of overweight and obesity of adolescents from educational
centers in Gran Canaria (Spain) and to analyze behavioural and psychological factors
associated with weight status.
Method: 1336 participants aged 12-20 years, were randomly selected. The studied variables
related to weight status were: adherence to the Mediterranean diet, physical activity, nutritional
knowledge and meal frequency. All of these were assessed by validated questionnaires.
Results: The prevalence of obesity was 10.4% (8.6% girls, 12.6% boys) and overweight 22.3%
(24% girls, 20.4% boys). There are no significant differences between weight status and adherence
to the Mediterranean diet but we observed that participants with normal weight obtained
the highest mean score in the KIDMED test and the highest frequency in the “high” group of
adhesion. Adolescents with normal weight spent fewer hours in sedentary activities (p≤0 .05)
and more hours on physical activity (p≤ 0.05) than those with underweight, overweight or obesity.
There were no significant differences between nutritional knowledge and weight status.
Participants who never or almost never had breakfast, morning break, afternoon break and dinner
had a higher prevalence of obesity and overweight (respectively, p≤ 0.001; p≤ 0.001; p≤ 0
.001; p≤ 0 .05) than those who had these meals every day.
Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in the adolescent population is still very
high in the Canary Islands. The consideration of factors related to obesity in adolescence and
learning more about the variables that predispose or prevent these problems can significantly
contribute to the development of treatments and prevention programs specifically for this context
or other similar contexts.