Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of obesity stress on the eating behavior of elementary school students. Using a questionnaire, 300 students in the sixth grade from 2 schools in Kyunggi-do were surveyed (Boys: N=145, Girls: N=155). Data analysis was managed by SPSS software (version 13.0). The link between obesity stress and eating habits or behaviors was dependent on physical discomfort. There was also a large group of students experienced irregularity in their meal times during the day. Furthermore, there were significant differences in mealtime among boys under psychic stress caused by obesity. In the case of dairy intake during breakfast, the significant signs of obesity stress for were physical discomfort for boys and psychic stress for the girls. It was found for both boys and girls that more frequent midnight snacking decreased the efforts to overcome obesity stress. Therefore, a professional nutrition program that can educate school children must be implemented both in school and at home. In addition to overweight or obesity children, normal weight and underweight children can also benefit from this program that includes health counseling for weight and eating behaviors.