'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast427: Weight Concerns: What 34,000 Teens Said - A 'Mind the Kids' podcast
Why are so many teenagers worried about their weight — and why do so few know where to turn for support? In this episode of Mind the Kids, host Clara Faria, academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry, University of Cambridge, talks with Dr. Melissa Little, who recently completed her doctorate at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, and works clinically as a paediatric dietitian. They discuss Dr. Little's new paper, 'Weight concern and desire for weight loss support in adolescents: Results from a large cross-sectional school survey', published in JCPP Advances, which analysed data from over 34,000 young people aged 11–18 taking part in the 2023 OxWell Student Survey. In this conversation on adolescent mental health, body image and weight-related distress, Clara and Melissa unpack: - Why 41% of adolescents report some level of weight concern — and why it isn't just girls: 1 in 4 boys are affected too - Why gender-diverse young people have up to eight times higher odds of weight or shape concern than boys, according to the published findings - Why weight concern doesn't reliably track with BMI — and what that means for who gets excluded from weight management services - Why 1 in 3 young people want weight-related support, far beyond the capacity of current obesity and weight clinics - The silos between mental health services and obesity/weight management services, and why disordered eating is too often used as an exclusion criterion rather than a reason to help - How social media, the UK's under-16s social media ban, and "wild west" online weight-loss content are shaping teen body image - Practical, non-stigmatising ways for parents, GPs, teachers and clinicians to talk about weight with young people — including why it's best to let them raise the topic first - What anonymous, digital-first support (chat-based, app-based, or social-media-native) could look like for teens too ashamed to ask for help face-to-face 📄 Read the full paper: Little, M., Fazel, M., Jebb, S. A., Wane, S., OxWell Study Team, & Aveyard, P. (2026). Weight concern and desire for weight loss support in adolescents: Results from a large cross-sectional school survey. JCPP Advances, https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcv2.70124 Get a free CPD/CME certificate for listening to this podcast by registering for a FREE ACAMH Learn account at https://bit.ly/4fF4BBW Visit https://www.acamh.org Facebook and LinkedIn search / ACAMH Instagram https://www.instagram.com/assoc.camh Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/acamh.bsky.social X https://x.com/acamh 🎧 Subscribe to Mind the Kids for more conversations with leading researchers and clinicians on child and adolescent mental health, evidence-based interventions, and the latest findings shaping youth mental health care. #MindTheKids #ACAMH #ChildMentalHealth #AdolescentMentalHealth #WeightConcern #BodyImage #TeenMentalHealth #EatingDisorders #PaediatricObesity #YouthMentalHealth #OxWellSurvey #CAMHS #ChildPsychiatry #JCPPAdvances
