Kids across America are stressing out about how much they weigh, worried they'll become super-sized like many of the adults they see, according to a new national survey of 9- to 13-year-olds conducted by health education experts at SIUC.

Results show that 59 percent of the more than 1,100 youngsters surveyed have already tried to lose weight; 54 percent worry about their weight; and 52 percent agree there's a problem with kids being overweight today.

Health education professors Stephen Brown and David Birch conducted the survey on behalf of KidsHealth - KidsPolls, a consortium that gives children a national platform to share their views on health-related issues that affect them.

On the upside, says Birch, "children seem to be hearing the many messages and warnings being issued about obesity and all the attendant problems it can cause."

Brown says that this heightened awareness couldn't come at a better time. About a third of all American kids are either overweight or at risk of becoming so--three times the percentage that were 20 years ago, according to statistics gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On the downside, however, the survey uncovered some excessive concern about body image and achieving thinness.

Among other findings:

• Of the youngsters surveyed, approximately 22 percent reported being slightly or very overweight and 23 percent said they weigh less than they should.

• Fifty-six percent said someone has spoken to them individually about their weight.

• While 55 percent of youngsters said they are at about the right weight, more than half of that group--57 percent--admitted they've tried to shed a few pounds.

• A surprising 43 percent of the kids who said they are "slightly or very underweight" also have tried to lose weight.

• Sixty-seven percent of girls said they worry about their weight, compared to 41 percent of boys.

• Sixty percent reported that it's harder for overweight kids to make friends.

• Sixty-nine percent believed that healthy eating and exercise are the best ways to control weight; only 17 percent thought dieting is more effective.

Responses to the survey were gathered in November 2003 from children visiting nine different health education centers around the country. The youngsters live in large and mid-size cities, suburbs, and rural areas, and their ethnicities mirror U.S. averages.

KidsPolls are a cooperative project of the National Association of Health Education Centers, the Nemours Center for Children's Health Media (creators of KidsHealth.org), and SIUC's Department of Health Education and Recreation.

For complete survey findings and methodology, visit http://nahec.org/KidsPoll/.

--by Paula Davenport, Media & Communication Resources