The Prediction of Quality of Life Based on Self-Esteem, Mental Health and Sleep Quality Variables in Obese and Overweight Girl Students

Background: Obesity of children and adolescents has many different detrimental effects on body image, self-esteem (SE), depression and social isolation that are effective on their mental and social health. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to predict the quality of life (QOL) of obese and overweight girl students in Kermanshah city based on self-esteem, mental health and sleep quality variables. Methods: The research is a descriptive-analytical study that 419 obese and overweight girl students were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling and simple random sampling. For collection of needed data, several questionnaires including demographic, Rosenberg self-esteem, Goldberg general health, Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaires and quality of life questionnaire related to word health organization were used. The BMI estimation method of the centers for disease control was used to determine overweight and obesity. Obtained data were analyzed using regression analysis in SPSS (Ver. 19) software environment. Results: The result of simple linear regression analysis showed that self-esteem, sleep quality and mental health variables, predict 0.11, 0.20, and 0.25 of the variance of total score for QOL, respectively. Multiple regression results indicated that mental health and sleep of quality variables had a significant effect on all dimensions and overall QOL scores (P < 0.01) simultaneously. The increasing effect of self-esteem on the dimensions of social relationships (P < 0.005), environmental health (P < 0.01) and overall QOL score (P < 0.01) was significant. According to obtained results, QOL has a direct and significant correlation with self-esteem (P < 0.01) mental health (P < 0.001) and, sleep quality (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that mental health is the most important and influential factor on the quality of life of obese adolescent girls. The results of this study indicated that a planning is need to promote girls’ mental health.