ArticleItalian journal of pediatrics2026
How do Italian adolescents see themselves? Body weight congruence and its determinants in the 2021/2022 HBSC study.
Article in Italian journal of pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBody weight self-perception refers to the level of agreement between an individual’s perceived and actual weight status. Body weight congruence (BWC) indicates the correct perception of one’s body weight compared with its actual value. Understanding the agreement between body mass index (BMI) and weight self-perception among adolescents might provide important information regarding health behaviours and psychosocial characteristics in this population. The aim of this study is to investigate the self-perception of body weight among Italian adolescents aged 11, 13, 15, and 17 years, and analyse its congruence with their BMI. Furthermore, it explores the association between BWC and selected socio-demographic and contextual factors.
methodsData from the Italian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey were used. HBSC is the first Italian population-based survey on adolescent behaviours, representative at national and regional levels and involving students (aged 11, 13, 15 and 17-year-olds have also been included) recruited from school classes throughout all Italian regions. The school class was the primary sampling unit, drawn by a stratified systematic cluster sampling from the list of all public and private schools.
resultsIn 2022 the Italian HBSC involving 89,321 adolescents. 63.8% of the population correctly perceived their body weight in relation to their BMI category. Overestimation of body weight was more frequent among girls than boys (26.3% vs. 9.3%); in contrast, boys were more likely to underestimate their weight (26.0% vs. 10.7%). Overestimation climbed from 11 to 17 years, whereas underestimation decreased with age. The risk of weight overestimation and underestimation was associated with adolescents’ health perception; a greater risk was observed among adolescents who considered their health as poor.
conclusionsOverall, our findings corroborate existing literature: body weight misperception decreases with increasing age, girls tend to overestimate their weight, and boys tend to underestimate it. Sex differences represent an important aspect to consider when designing sex-specific interventions in public health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.