Emotional maturity, locus of control and anxiety in obese preadolescents

Aspects of psychological functioning such as emotional maturity, locus of control and anxiety had been evaluated in obese preadolescents. The following instruments were used: Draw a Person Test - DAT; Locus of Control Scale for Children and the Revised Children Manifest Anxiety Scale (Portuguese versions). Results show no tendency for the locus of control to be more external or internal, when compared to normative data. The scores of anxiety, as personality trait, are compatible to the normative data. The DAT analysis showed that most of the results related to Developmental and Emotional Scales are within the norm values. These results suggest no differences between obese preadolescents and preadolescents in general, related to the aspects approached in this study. They also suggest that, for some individuals, being obese may be associated to some emotional suffering and difficulties in dealing with developmental aspects.

obesity; psychological evaluation; preadolescents