Maintenance of self-esteem in childre

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether obese children differ in global self-worth from normal weight children, and to explore whether the differences between obese children who have high global self-worth and those with low global self-worth are related to discounting and cognitive distortion. Global selfworth was tapped using a multidimensional measurement tool that assesses global self-worth· independently of self-perceptions in specific domains. Results of this study revealed that obese children differed from normal weight peers in how they perceived their physical appearance, whether they were socially accepted, and how they felt in general about themselves. In other words, obese children had lower global self-worth, felt bad about their relations with others, and were unhappy with· the way they looked. However, obese children did use defensive cognitions when answering questions about the self and their physical appearance. Use of these defenses appeared to enhance global self-worth, but not enough to prevent obese children from being in the category of tow in global self-worth.