Dataset Information

Gender Norms and Weight Control Behaviors in U.S. Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study (1994-2002).

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The aim of this article was to determine the relationship between gender norms and weight control behaviors in U.S. adolescents.

Methods

We analyzed prospective cohort data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 9,861), at baseline in 1994-1995 (ages 11-18 years, Wave I), 1-year follow-up (ages 12-19 years, Wave II), and 7-year follow-up (ages 18-26 years, Wave III). The primary exposure variable was a measure of one's gender normativity based on the degree to which males and females behave in ways that are similar to the behaviors of their same-gender peers. The outcome variable was an individual's weight control attempts (trying to lose or gain weight) and behaviors (dieting, fasting/skipping meals, vomiting, or weight-loss pills/laxatives/diuretics to lose weight or ate different/more foods than usual or taking supplements to gain weight).

Results

In logistic regression analyses controlling for potential confounders, a higher baseline individual gender normativity score (higher femininity in females and higher masculinity in males) was associated with weight loss attempts (? = .10; p = .01) and weight loss behaviors (? = .18; p < .001) in girls but was associated with weight gain attempts (? = .18; p < .001) and behaviors (? = .16; p < .001) in boys at 1-year follow-up. Higher individual gender normativity score was protective of weight loss attempts (? = -.15; p < .001) and weight loss behaviors (? = -.17; p < .001) in males but not females at 7-year follow-up. Loess plots provided visualizations of significant relationships.

Conclusions

Gender norms may reinforce a thinner body ideal for girls but a larger ideal for boys.

SUBMITTER: Nagata JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6928570 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Gender Norms and Weight Control Behaviors in U.S. Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study (1994-2002).

Nagata Jason M JM Domingue Benjamin W BW Darmstadt Gary L GL Weber Ann M AM Meausoone Valerie V Cislaghi Beniamino B Shakya Holly B HB

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 20200101 1S

<h4>Purpose</h4>The aim of this article was to determine the relationship between gender norms and weight control behaviors in U.S. adolescents.<h4>Methods</h4>We analyzed prospective cohort data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 9,861), at baseline in 1994-1995 (ages 11-18 years, Wave I), 1-year follow-up (ages 12-19 years, Wave II), and 7-year follow-up (ages 18-26 years, Wave III). The primary exposure variable was a measure of one's gender normativity ba ...[more]

PMID: 31866036

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Project description:Importance:In the context of the growing prevalence of childhood obesity, behaviors aimed at weight loss and their psychological burden might be increasing. Objective:To investigate whether the prevalence of weight-control behaviors and weight perception, including their association with depressive symptoms, has changed in the 3 decades between 1986 and 2015. Design, Setting, and Participants:This study used data from repeated cross-sections from successive longitudinal birth cohort studies. These included general population samples of UK adolescents aged 14 to 16 years from 3 ongoing birth cohorts: the British Cohort Study 1970 (children born between April 5 and 11, 1970; data collected in 1986), the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (mothers with expected delivery between April 1, 1991, and December 21, 1992; data collected in 2005), and the Millennium Cohort Study (children born between September 1, 2000, and January 11, 2002; data collected in 2015). A total of 22?503 adolescents with data available on at least 1 weight-control or weight-perception variable in midadolescence were included in the study. Data were analyzed from August 1, 2019, to January 15, 2020. Main Outcomes and Measures:Self-reported lifetime dieting and exercise for weight loss, current intentions about weight (doing nothing, lose weight, stay the same, gain weight), and weight perception (underweight, about the right weight, overweight) adjusted for body mass index. The secondary outcome was depressive symptoms. Exposures:The main exposure was time (ie, cohort); secondary exposures were weight-change behaviors and weight perception. Results:The study cohort included 22 503 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 14.8 [0.3] years; 12 061 girls [53.6%]; and 19 942 White individuals [89.9%]). A total of 5878 participants were from the British Cohort Study, 5832 were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and 10?793 were from the Millennium Cohort Study. In 2015, 4809 participants (44.4%) had dieted and 6514 (60.5%) had exercised to lose weight compared with 1952 (37.7%) and 344 (6.8%) in 1986. Furthermore, 4539 (42.2%) were trying to lose weight in 2015 compared with 1767 (28.6%) in 2005. Although girls were more likely to report these behaviors in all years, their prevalence increased more in boys over time (lifetime dieting in boys: odds ratio [OR], 1.79; 95% CI, 1.24-2.59; in girls: OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.91-1.66; currently trying to lose weight in boys: OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 2.38-3.19; in girls: OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.50-1.92). Adolescents also became more likely to overestimate their weight (boys describing themselves as overweight adjusting for body mass index, 2005 vs 1985 OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.17-2.19; 2015 vs 1985 OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.04-1.80; girls describing themselves as underweight, after adjusting for body mass index, 2015 vs 1986 OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28-0.91). Girls who described themselves as overweight experienced increasingly greater depressive symptoms over time compared to girls who described their weight as about right (mean difference 1986, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.22-0.41; mean difference 2005, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.24-0.42; mean difference 2015, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.49-0.62). Conclusions and Relevance:These findings suggest that the growing focus on obesity prevention might have had unintended consequences related to weight-control behaviors and poor mental health. Public health campaigns addressing obesity should include prevention of disordered eating behaviors and be sensitive to negative impact on mental health.

Project description:ObjectivesWeight perceptions have been implicated in weight control related behaviors among children and adolescents, yet studies in mainland China are scarce. We examined the associations of self-perceived weight status and weight misperception with weight control related behaviors in Chinese middle and high school students.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data from the 2017 Zhejiang Youth Risk Behavior Survey which that included 17,359 Chinese students, with 8,616 boys and 8,743 girls. Perceived weight status, as well as height, weight and weight control related behaviors information was collected via a self-reported questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated by multinomial logistic regression were used to assess the relationships between weight perceptions and weight control related behaviors.ResultsAmong the 17,359 students aged 9 to 18 years, the mean (SD) age was 15.72 (1.64) years. Overall, 34.19% of children and adolescents perceived themselves as overweight and the prevalence of weight misperception was 45.44%, with 35.54% overestimation and 9.90% underestimation. Children and adolescents perceiving themselves as overweight were more likely to have weight control behaviors, with OR was 2.60 (95% CI: 2.39-2.83) for weight control attempt, 2.48 (2.28-2.70) for exercising, 2.85 (2.60-3.11) for dieting, 2.01 (1.51-2.68) for taking laxatives, 2.09 (1.67-2.02) for taking diet pills, and 2.39 (1.94-2.94) for fasting, respectively, compared to those with right weight status. Among children and adolescents with overestimating weight status, the OR was 2.40 (2.22-2.59), 2.50 (2.31-2.70), 2.85 (2.61-3.11), 1.81 (1.39-2.37), 2.20 (1.77-2.74), and 2.16 (1.77-2.63) for weight control attempt, exercising, dieting, taking laxatives, taking diet pills, and fasting, relative to those with accurate weight perception.ConclusionsSelf-perceived overweight and weight misperception are prevalent in Chinese children and adolescents, and positively associated with weight control related behaviors.

Dataset Information

Gender Norms and Weight Control Behaviors in U.S. Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study (1994-2002).

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Gender Norms and Weight Control Behaviors in U.S. Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study (1994-2002).

Similar Datasets

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