Original articleDieting and Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors During Adolescence: Associations With 10-Year Changes in Body Mass Index
Section snippets
Study design and population
This study includes data from three waves of Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults), a 10-year longitudinal study examining dietary intake, physical activity, and weight-related variables in young people. In Project EAT-I (1998–1999), middle- and high school students from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota completed surveys and anthropometric measures [24], [25]. Five years later (2003–2004; Project EAT-II), original participants were mailed follow-up
Dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors at Time 1 and Time 2
Dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors were prevalent, particularly in females (Table 1). Among females, 37.8% reported persistent dieting (use at both Time 1 and Time 2) and 43.7% reported persistent use of unhealthy weight control behaviors. In males, 10.3% reported persistent dieting and 18.7% reported persistent use of unhealthy weight control behaviors.
Changes in BMI by dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors
Females and males engaged in dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors at both Time 1 and Time 2 had higher BMI values at the
Discussion
Findings from the current study raise concerns about the high prevalence of dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors in adolescents, particularly females, and the implications of these behaviors for weight gain over time. Persistent use of dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors longitudinally predicted greater increases in BMI from adolescence to young adulthood in both overweight and nonoverweight respondents. The large magnitude of the BMI increases associated with the use of
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by grant number R01HL084064 (D. Neumark-Sztainer, principal investigator) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Hearth, Lung, and Blood Institute or the National Institutes of Health.
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