Obesity and psyhological aspects: emotional and cognitive development, self concept, locus of control and anxiety / Obesidade e aspectos psicológicos: maturidade emocional, auto-conceito, locus de controle e ansiedade

The present research aimed to evaluate if obese children showed different results in regard to some psychological variables such as emotional and cognitive development, locus of control, self concept , anxiety and behavioral problems compared to non obese children of same age, sex and school achievement. Subjects were 57 children with ages between 10 and 12 years old. The obese group had 27 children, 14 girls and 13 boys. The criterion for assignment to this group was the value of body mass above 85 percentile. The group of non obese had also 27 children, 15 girls and 12 boys and their body mass index was between 5 and 85 percentiles. There were no differences between the groups in regard to the variables approached. There were signs of psychological suffering in children of both groups. These results do not allow us to associate obesity with psychological or behavioral problems.