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The goal of this study was to examine weight misperception among overweight adolescents in recent years and compare the demographic characteristics and weight-related behaviors of overweight adolescents who accurately and inaccurately perceive their weight status.

We used data from the nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, collected every 2 years from 1999 through 2007. On the basis of self-reported height and weight, BMI percentile for age and sex was calculated. Overweight and obese respondents (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) were classified into 2 groups: (1) misperceivers (weight perception “about right” or “underweight”) or (2) accurate perceivers (weight perception “overweight”). We examined the proportion of misperceivers at each time point. Using the 2007 data, we compared demographic characteristics and weight-related behaviors of accurate …