The Impact of Overweight and Obesity on Self-Esteem: A Critical Analysis of Employed Versus Unemployed Women of Reproductive Age of the Pathan Ethnicity at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Background: Overweight and obesity are reaching to a major public health challenge not only to serious physical health consequences but has significant psychological effects including self-esteem which can further impact quality of life, general well-being and social interactions. Methodology: A consent-based consecutive overweight and obese sample of 200 pathan women of child-bearing age (≥25 and ≤45) were assessed for selected socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements were carried out as per WHO procedure, and self-esteem was analyzed through Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem scale comprising 10 items with a 4 option Likert scale. Percent responses and each item were determined through descriptive statistics along with mean RSE scores within the group significance (p≤005) based on age in each group. Regression statistics was performed for education, age, income, BMI and parity. Female body scales were used for preferred body figures. Data was analyzed on IBM SPSS version 23. Results: Results of the current study showed that 89% of unemployed and 80% of the employed women were married, mainly living in an extended family system (73% & 53%) and having a rural background (85% & 67%). The mean BMI of the unemployed women was 32.4± 12.4 and unemployed was 30.8±11.8. The distribution of the sample on a BMI basis showed majority of the females were in the overweight and class I obesity categories. The percent responses on the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale showed varying patterns with some non-significant differences between the two groups. The mean scores between both the groups and categories were quite low, specifically among the employed women, indicating a mass low self-esteem within this population subgroup. Education, income, BMI, age, and parity were strongly associated with low self-esteem scores in both groups. The body figure preferences showed majority of the women preferred “skinny” or healthier BMI rather than larger muscular bodies. Conclusions: The current study concludes that low self-esteem is highly prevalent among overweight and obese working and non-working women, evidenced by notably even low Self-esteem scores. These findings highlight significant psychological challenges faced by women, necessitating the implementation of multidimensional approaches and interventions to enhance their health outcomes and improve their overall quality of life. Additionally, it is suggested to broaden the scope of the current study to help in the generalization of these results to other population subgroups across various parameters.