Is Body Image Associated With Perseverance? A Study Among People With Normal And Increased Body Weight [Letter]

Dear editor

We read with great interest the article by Styk et al.¹ In their study, the authors found that persistence is associated with body image which evaluated by subjective body weight assessment. In addition, a positive correlation between the distractor resistance index and body mass index (BMI) was found. We wish to express our opinion on the topic and statistical method in this research.

Obesity is a public health problem around the world and there is growing evidence that obesity is a known risk factor for the later development of other diseases.^2,3 Childhood and adolescence are critical for developing lifelong eating and behavior habits. Prevention of obesity in school children is therefore a public health priority.⁴ Perseverance deficits may lead to an unhealthy diet and weight gain, which may result in negative body image.¹ We suggest that schools should pay attention to this negative feedback, find methods to increase perseverance and build positive body image for both children and adolescents.

It is noticeable, however, that the risk factors of obesity are complex and dynamic. Various factors are associated with obesity, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.^2,5 The authors said the demographics (age, gender and education) were collected during the survey and the groups did not differ significantly at levels of the variables, but there is no relevant data in the different groups (high BMI group versus normal BMI group, high subjective weight subgroup versus normal subjective weight subgroup in the high/normal BMI group). If the high BMI group had a higher mean age in this survey, the difference of perseverance between the two groups may be due to a significantly different age range. If the normal subjective weight subgroup in the high BMI group had a higher education, the difference of perseverance between the two subgroups may due to a significantly different education. Besides, according to Table 1, significant difference was found in the proportion of subjective weight among the high BMI group and the normal BMI group by chi-squared test.¹ So, the difference of perseverance in the two groups may be due to to subjective weight, which could affect the explanations of the results. Given the complex etiology of obesity, it is necessary to present the detailed data of the participants, including age, gender, education and conduct significance tests to increase credibility. In addition, logistic regression analysis may help to find the accurate correlation between perseverance and BMI or body image.