Impact of obesity on physical health and self-esteem among college students

Obesity and overweight have both been described as anomalous accumulation of excessive body fat which may be harmful to health. There is no single cause to explain all cases of obesity and overweight but most studies implicate imbalance in the amounts of calories consumed and those expended. Energy breakdown is said to be less than energy build up. The disruption of the normal satiety feedback mechanism, hyper insulinism, insulin resistance and genetics are some of bio-physiological causes of obesity and overweight.

The study is intended to assess the impact of obesity on physical health and self-esteem among college students of age group 18–26 years in selected colleges of district Faridkot.

A quantitative descriptive study was conducted on 60 subjects to assess the impact of obesity on physical health and self-esteem, selected using convenient sampling technique. The study was conducted in private as well as government colleges within the Faridkot. To collect data from subjects self structured tool and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale was used by investigator. Students were taken for study because students attending those colleges were exposed to different modern lifestyle and indulge in diversified diet. It was chosen purposively due to the presence of many people with varied social, culture, religious background.

The results revealed that no significant association was found between the socio demographic variables and impact of obesity on physical health and self esteem. Impact of obesity on their physical health and self esteem was found to be non-significant associated (at p<0.05)

It is concluded that that no significant association was found between the socio demographic variables and impact of obesity on physical health and self esteem.