This study was to examine the relations of perception of physique with self-esteem, sociality and problematic behaviors in children.

Four hundred sixty five (231 boys and 234 girls) children were divided into three groups according to their height or body mass index according to the physical growth standard table had been presented in 2007 by the Korean Pediatric Society. The group 1, 2, and 3 was short, borderline and normal or obese, overweight and normal, respectively. Their perception and satisfaction of height and weight were investigated, and their self esteem and behavior styles were examined with Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) and Korean Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL). We compared the numbers of appropriate perception, satisfaction, self-esteem and problematic behaviors in each group, and analyzed the relationship among perception of physique, self-esteem, sociality, and behavioral characteristics. The collected data were analyzed with chi-square test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient used with SPSS (ver. 12.0).

There were significant mismatches among their real physique perception and satisfaction ( P < 0.05). There were no significant differences of their self-esteem, sociality, and problematic behaviors according to their actual height and weight. There were significant differences of their self-esteem according to their perception or satisfaction of their height and weight ( P < 0.01).

The children who considered themselves have short stature or obesity had problematic behaviors or low self-esteem. Therefore, children should be educated to have the appropriate perception of their own body image.