Social Anxiety in Obese Youth in Treatment Setting
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Social Anxiety in Obese Youth in Treatment Setting Julia E. Thompson • B. Allyson Phillips Andy McCracken • Kenneth Thomas • Wendy L. Ward
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Published online: 11 August 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of social anxiety in obese children treated in a weight management clinic. We hypothesized that social anxiety would positively correlate with obesity, and that ‘‘extremely obese’’ patients would have significantly higher rates of social anxiety when compared to ‘‘obese’’ patients. Information was collected at a multidisciplinary treatment clinic for obese youth during the first clinic visit. The social anxiety scale was administered (including parent-report and self-report scales for both elementary and adolescent versions) and demographic data was obtained. Social anxiety was found to be significantly positively correlated with BMI percentile. In addition, ‘‘extremely obese’’ patients had significantly higher social anxiety scores than ‘‘obese’’ youth at least for elementary-age youth. Trends in gender differences and racial differences in this obese pediatric clinical sample were consistent with results found in community samples. Social anxiety and obesity were found to be positively correlated in this pediatric clinic-based population. For elementary-age patients, ‘‘extremely obese’’ patients were at greater risk than ‘‘obese patients’’ for social anxiety and its various symptoms—fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance/distress in new situations, and social avoidance/distress in general. Results for adolescents were less clear. Clinical implications of these results were discussed. Limitations of this study, and directions for future research were also discussed. J. E. Thompson Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA B. Allyson Phillips A. McCracken W. L. Ward (&) UAMS Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 1 Children’s Way, Slot 512-21, Little Rock, AR 72202-3591, USA e-mail: [email protected] K. Thomas Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Little Rock, AR, USA
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Keywords
J. E. Thompson et al.
Pediatric obesity Social anxiety
Introduction It is estimated that, within the United States, 15.3 % of school-age children are considered obese along with 15.5 % of the adolescent population (Ogden et al. 2006; Pohl et al. 2006; Strauss and Pollack 2003). Along with the medical comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, fatty liver disease, and other life-threatening illnesses, overweight children and adolescents are also suspected of being at an increased risk for internalizing difficulties (internal emotional distress and/or mood states) such as depression (Pesa et al. 2000; Williams et al. 2005) hopelessness (Falkner et al. 2001), suicide attempts (Falkner et al. 2001), and low self-esteem (French et al.
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