[Relative validity of self-assessment of silhouette and BMI (body mass index)].

Overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence is unquestionable risk factor for pathogenic obesity in adulthood, high mortality and morbidity for cardiovascular diseases and other health disorders, and also may cause the worse social and economical adaptation. Nevertheless, little is yet known about subjective perception of own body, the pathway leading to dissatisfaction of the body, development of chronic stress and behavioural disorders (anorexia, binge eating, bulimia) as a consequence. In Health Promotion Department of the National Institute of Hygiene the multidimensional investigations of adolescents' health and life style were undertaken, and analysis of association between subjective image of body and real body mass was a part of these investigations. Data were obtained from 672 randomly selected schoolchildren aged 14-15 years attending seventeen public and private schools in Warsaw. Respondents informed about their weight and high for calculation BMI. Simultaneously, they were asked, whether they assess themselves as leaner than their peers, the same or thicker. The study showed that girls in comparison with boys more accurately assessed their silhouette. The boys were more likely than girls to perceive themselves as the same as their peers, despite they had real underweight or overweight. Our findings suggest that real mass of body itself account for variance of subjective perceived body in moderate degree, and there are other factors influencing body image at least as real mass of body.