Obesity and Helplessness-Pessimism: A Study of Psychological Well-Being and Reaction Injustice among Students

Abstract

Background: Obesity is one of the major concerns among adolescents, and various factors play a significant role in determining the status of being obese. The sense of helplessness-pessimism is one of them which involves feelings of incompetence, hopelessness, and resignations due to repeated failures. There is a need to determine the role of helplessness-pessimism about obesity as a moderator of those negative effects.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to collect the data for the present study. A total of 28 female students with obesity were enrolled following the BMI general guidelines. All had faced verbal indecent comments. Participants were given a self-administered, pre-tested questionnaire with helplessness-pessimism, self-concept, depressive affect, general distress, and general morale. Descriptive analysis with proportion was used to analyze the data.Results: Result findings revealed a significant difference between high helplessness-pessimism and low helplessness-pessimism on self-concept competence, positive attitude, potency power, creativity, anger, depressive affect, general distress, and general morale of the participants. However, no significant difference was found between self-rated physical and perceived health change.Conclusion: A higher sense of helplessness-pessimism does have significantly m oderated psychological consequences of obesity for the female respondents.