Impact of Obesity on Youth Psychological Well-being

This assignment aims to investigate the impact of obesity on psychological well-being in youth. The study will employ primary data collection methods, including observation, interviews (face-to-face and telephonic), and questionnaires, to gather information from respondents. The Chi-square and ANOVA tests will be used to analyze the data. The study's scope is focused on determining the impact of obesity on psychological well-being in youth. However, limitations such as time constraints and potential inaccuracies in respondent data may affect the research. The expected outcome is either a significant or non-significant impact of obesity on psychological well-being.

Running Head: HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
health psychology

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Statement of the problem.................................................................................................................3
Research question............................................................................................................................3
Objective of the study......................................................................................................................3
Research Hypothesis........................................................................................................................3
Statistical Test..................................................................................................................................3
 Chi square Test.....................................................................................................................3
 Anova Test............................................................................................................................4
Data collection.................................................................................................................................4
Primary data collection method...................................................................................................4
Secondary data collection method...............................................................................................4
Observation method.................................................................................................................4
Interview method.........................................................................................................................4
Telephonic interview...............................................................................................................5
Questionnaire method..................................................................................................................5
Scope of the study............................................................................................................................5
Limitation of the study.....................................................................................................................5
Expected conclusion........................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
In today's world, one major problem youth are confronted with is obesity and overweight.
Obesity is the state of being overweight. Fat has compiled in the body which has a negative
effect on the health. It is calculated in terms of body mass index (BMI). BMI is the measurement
tool for categorizing obesity. Obesity among children and youth is complex because the BMI
differ with age. Health experts identified this problem as the greatest health menace of this
century. Being overweight is not only affect physically but also mentally. Psychological well-
being of a person includes physical processes, effective processes, social processes and self-
processes. While establishing individual's psychological well-being, all the above aspects are
taken into consideration.
It also has an impact on countries economy. At some extend fast food industry is the reason
behind this problem, and in this techno savvy world other reasons for this problem are a static
lifestyle, spending hours in front of computers, television and mobile phones plays an important
role. Person eating habits and food choices are major factors for overweight. People consume
more calories than necessary to have in their daily routine. The causes of being overweight are
consumption of fat rich diet, genetic syndromes and other disorder are some contributing factors
toward obesity. Obesity symptoms are mostly seen at the grown up stage of the child. There are
three major events of children that are related to obesity. These events are a parental period,
adiposity rebound and adolescence. In the parental period, the child has obesity problem from his
birth. It is because of their parents. They may be diabetic persons or having cholesterol issues. In
adiposity rebound, a person's BMI starts rising at 5 to 6 years of age. Thereafter, from childhood
stage to adolescence stage, the BMI increases continuously. In adolescence period, obesity

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present in teenage persists into adulthood. The rate of obesity varies from the childhood stage to
the adolescent stage. The following are the ecological perspective for the cause of obesity:
 Physical
 Social
 Hormonal
 Genetics
 Environmental
Because of the problem of obesity among the youngsters, the fast food companies started
providing healthy and hygienic food such as salads and fruit juice irrespective of fizzy drinks and
fries. Now menus are also provided with healthier options. Obesity leads to the many other
health disorder such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, osteoarthritis, depression, etc.
it also causes to death. Hypothyroidism is the hormonal factor which causes obesity. This
condition has an impact on body's metabolism which results in a gain in body weight. Both
genetic and hormonal factors play a significant role in causing obesity. The study on the impact
of obesity on psychological well-being would allow parents, youth and society to deal and
identify with relevant issues related to this problem. It would also increase awareness among
society in general. This study provides clear understanding towards the teenager who is suffering
from this problem. Everyone give attention towards the physical impact of obesity, but nowadays
the main question arises about the impact of obesity on psychological well being. Another issue
rise here is that whether a person becomes obese first or whether psychological problems arise
first which lead to obesity. (Thurston I. B. et al., 2017)

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Statement of the problem
For a professional psychologist, it is necessary to create an understanding of the effect that the
obesity has on the psychological well being of the youth. This research may help to serve greater
awareness as well as allow the psychology researcher to provide his or her services effectively
and efficiently.
Research question
What is the impact of obesity on the psychological well-being of youth?
Objective of the study
 To examine the effect of obesity on youth.
 To find out the impact of obesity on psychological well being of youth.
Research Hypothesis
H0: There is no significant impact of obesity on psychological well being of youth. (Null
hypothesis)
H1: There is a significant impact of obesity on psychological well being of youth. (Alternative
hypothesis)
Statistical Test
Among the various statistical test, Chi square and ANOVA test will be used to conduct the study.
This test can be explained as follow:
 Chi square Test: chi square is non-negative in value, it is either have 0 or positive value.
It is not symmetrical. This test of hypothesis is about the variance in standard deviations.

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 Anova Test: It is an analysis of variance that is variation among and between groups.
(Schabenberger O. et al., 2017).
Data collection
It is the process of collecting and evaluating information that enables one to answer the research
question. It gives the complete and accurate view of the situations. It is of two types – primary
data and secondary data.
Primary data collection method: This type of data collection method is a fresh and first-hand
data collection and thus happens to be original in character which can be done by questionnaire,
interviewing, etc.
Secondary data collection method: This includes the second-hand data which was already
collected by other researcher and which have already been passed through the statically process.
Example of these methods is website, journals, magazines, etc. (Orkin, K. 2014)
For this research, primary data collection method is used in order to analyze the impact of
obesity on psychological well being of youth. Techniques which will be used for collecting data
are observation method, interview method, telephonic interview and questionnaire method.
Observation method: In this method observer personally observe the situation by going to the
field and analyse the every aspect of the problem. This method eliminates subjective biasness,
independent to respondent's variable and researcher gets current information of the field. But this
method is expensive and requires more time.
Interview method: This method involves oral, verbal stimuli and replies in oral, verbal
response. The interviewer asks questions to the interviewee directly. There is a face to face

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interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer gets information in
greater depth, and personal information can be obtained.
Telephonic interview: in this method interviewer asks a question to the interviewer over the
telephone. There is no face to face communication. This is the faster and cheaper than the
personal interview method. Requirements can be explained more easily by the interviewer and
replies can be recorded.
Questionnaire method: this type of method is quite popular. The questionnaire is mailed to the
respondent who read the questions and then answers. The questionnaire can be filled up
physically or online. It covers a large geographical area with lower cost. (Soni A. S. et al., 2017)
Scope of the study
The scope of the study determines the impact of obesity on psychological well being of youth.
For this purpose, primary data collection is used to find out the impact of obesity on
psychological well being of youth
Limitation of the study
For this research, the limited time has given, but the researcher might require more time to
complete this research more efficiently.
In primary data respondent might not provide accurate and complete data which will lead to
inappropriate information.
The researcher might experience a lot of problems during the research which is as follows: delay
in collecting of questionnaire due to public holidays, some respondent will not return their copy.

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Expected result
As per the research conducted the result can be either positive or negative that is either there is a
significant impact of obesity on psychological wellbeing of youth, or there is no significant
impact of obesity on psychological well being of youth. From the two hypotheses i.e. null
hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, only one can be accepted, and other will be rejected.

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References
Thurston, I. B., Sonneville, K. R., Milliren, C. E., Kamody, R. C., Gooding, H. C., & Richmond,
T. K. (2017). Cross-sectional and prospective examination of weight misperception and
depressive symptoms among youth with overweight and obesity. Prevention Science, 18(2), 152-
163.
Orkin, K. (2014). Data Collection Methods. In Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being
Research (pp. 1430-1432). Springer Netherlands.
Soni, A. S., Weinert, S., Rasch-Menges, J., Walling, P. D., Bousamra, S. A., & Greenburg, A. M.
(2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,659,037. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Schabenberger, O., & Gotway, C. A. (2017). Statistical methods for spatial data analysis. CRC
press.