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Psychosocial Issues in Adolescent Bariatric Surgery

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The ASMBS Textbook of Bariatric Surgery

Abstract

An alarming 6 % of today’s teenagers face the day-to-day challenge of being extremely obese. While obesity-related medical comorbidities are both common and of concern, the greater and more immediate impact of extreme obesity in adolescence is arguably psychosocial. This chapter reviews an emerging literature that characterizes the psychosocial health of adolescents with extreme obesity, those seeking surgical weight loss, and the initial psychosocial outcomes for adolescents who undergo bariatric surgery. Unlike the adult patient, adolescent bariatric surgery and the subsequent postoperative course progress through critically important and transitional times in psychosocial development—a period when change in physical, emotional, interpersonal, social, and educational and vocational domains is expected. For example, there is growing evidence that in addition to the “usual (psychosocial) suspects” most often the focus of the adult bariatric literature (e.g., depression, binge eating disorder, and quality of life), there are key age-salient psychosocial factors (versus psychopathology) affected by extreme obesity in adolescence that may be positively impacted by surgical weight loss (e.g., perceived competence, body image, the social network). There are also contextual factors known to negatively affect psychosocial functioning for any adolescent, regardless of weight status (e.g., impaired parent/family functioning, engagement in high-risk behaviors, high-risk contexts), that also must be considered. Thus, understanding of the adolescent patient must occur within an age-salient psychosocial context.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue MLC3015, Cincinnati, OH, 45215, USA

    Meg H. Zeller PhD

  2. Department of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue MLC3015, Cincinnati, OH, 45215, USA

    Jennifer Reiter-Purtill PhD

Authors
  1. Meg H. Zeller PhD
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  2. Jennifer Reiter-Purtill PhD
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Correspondence to Meg H. Zeller PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. GI/Nutrition, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA

    Christopher Still

  2. Department of Weight and Eating Disorders, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    David B. Sarwer

  3. Policy Initiatives and Advocacy, American Dietetic Association, Falls Church, Virginia, USA

    Jeanne Blankenship

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Zeller, M.H., Reiter-Purtill, J. (2014). Psychosocial Issues in Adolescent Bariatric Surgery. In: Still, C., Sarwer, D., Blankenship, J. (eds) The ASMBS Textbook of Bariatric Surgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1197-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1197-4_8

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