Gender Modifies the Association Between Body Mass Index and Emotional Symptoms Among Alpha Generation Adolescent in Coastal Areas: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents generally experience greater emotional intensity and interpersonal conflict than either children or adults. How adolescents respond to the emotional stress of their body weight is different among boys and girls. This investigation aimed to verify the association between body mass index and emotional symptoms among alpha generation adolescent in coastal areas whether it was similar in boys and girls.Methods : A Cross Sectional study was conducted from Periodic Health Screening and Examination in School Data by Public Health Center of all adolescent born 2010-2014 in Junior High School on August 2025. Emotional Symptom assessed using by a Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for 11-18 years old. Body Mass Index measured by body weight and height of each participant. All cleaned data for analysis was 2.786. The analysis of the association between BMI and emotional symptom differs by sex using Pearson’s Chi-Square Test and to analyse a stratified by gender to examine whether the association of binary category differs using Multinomial Logistic Regression.Results: The result show a statistically significant association BMI and Emotional Symptom among both boys (p = 0.037) and girls (p = 0.024) also the association BMI and Emotional Symptom differs significantly by gender (p <0.001). Among boys, a significant positive association emerged for the Overweight category compares to those individuals with Borderline symptoms and Normal symptoms (OR = 2.12; 95% CI= 1.19–3.76; p = 0.011). In girls,  a significant association  emerged for the Thinnes category compares to the individuals with Abnormal symptoms and Normal symptoms  (OR = 0.68; 95% CI=0.53–0.88; p = 0.003).Conclusion: For Boys, the risk appears to concentrate at the higher end of the BMI spectrum. Overweight boys are significantly increase odds of borderline symptoms. For Girls, the risk appears to concentrate at the lower end of the BMI spectrum, but in the opposite direction. Thinnes girls have significantly lower odds of abnormal symptoms. Interventions targeting emotional well-being may need to consider overweight and obesity as potential risk factors for boys. Public health programs must take this into account in order to adapt their message to adolescents.