Self–Regulation of Adolescents aged 13–18 years to Decrease their Body Mass Index in the Akat Amnuai District, Sakon Nakhon Province

Abstract

            Obesity in adolescent is one of the major contributors to non–communicable diseases in adulthood, especially cardiovascular disease. This research aimed to study the self–regulation and to investigate the factors related to self–regulation to reduce body mass index (BMI) in students aged 13–18 years. The samples were 85 students with an over or obesity BMI. The samples were randomly selected using a purposive sampling method from 3 secondary schools in Akat Amnuai district, Sakon Nakhon Province. The nutritional status was screened with a body composition analyzer and assessed using BMI–for–age. The data were collected from May, 2019 to February, 2020 by interviewing form included self–observation, decision–making and self–reaction. The basic information was analyzed using the descriptive statistics. The self–regulation scores were analyzed using the Tertiles. The association between the self–regulation and BMI was determined using the multiple logistic regressions. Adjusted odd ratio (ORadj) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were presented.

           The results revealed that 56.5% of the samples were female. Most of them were poor self–regulation with 68.2%. The factors associated significantly with good self–regulation were aged 16–18 years old (p = 0.007, ORadj 9.61, 95%CI 1.84–50.10), over BMI–for–age (p = 0.008, ORadj 4.15, 95%CI 1.46–11.80) and the structured exercise (p = 0.013, ORadj 4.05, 95%CI 1.34–12.31). Therefore the self–regulation activities should be organized for student with over–nutrition status, especially in early adolescents. The structure exercise or exercise patterns should be promoted in school for increasing physical activity among student.

           Keywords: Student, Body mass index, Self–regulation, Exercise and nutritional control