Intervention study for Chinese overweight children—effects on exercise intention and physical self satisfaction

Objective: To determine the effect of exercise intervention on Chinese overweight children’s attraction to physical activity, physical self-perception and body satisfaction. Methods: A cross sectional study of Chinese overweight school children completed questionnaires related to physical activity attitude, physical self-concept, and body satisfaction. One hundred Chinese overweight children (34% girls and 66% boys) aged 8 - 12 years were selected from a primary school in Hong Kong, China. Overweight children were defined and identified using the international cut-off points by sex between 2 and 18 years old of the age-related body mass index(BMI)of 25 kg/m2. Weight and height of participants were measured in school physical education class and BMI was calculated. Physical activity attitude was measured by the Children’s Attraction to Physical Activity (CAPA). Physical self-concept was measured using the Physical Self-Perception Profile for Children (C-PSPP). Body satisfaction was established using the silhouette matching task (SMT). Results: Significant intervention effect was found in C-PSPP. Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that the intervention was significant in improving strength subscale, physical self-worth, and global self-worth. Regarding CAPA, and SMT, all factors were not significant. Polynomial regression analyses indicated that there is a clear nonlinear relationship on the sport competence and body attractiveness subscales. Conclusion: The intervention program can improve the physical self worth, global self worth and certain physical self-perception subscales of the overweight Chinese children, especially for the children who have lower scores in sport competence and body attractiveness.