Abstract
Evidence suggests associations between weight management intentions, weight perceptions, and health-compromising behaviours among adolescent girls. Drawing on cross-sectional data for 21,456 girls, we employed multinomial logistic regression to examine whether smoking, binge drinking, and breakfast-skipping were associated with weight management intentions and weight perceptions. According to self-reported heights and weights, 61.4% of girls were in the healthy weight category. However, most reported trying to manage their weight, with 58% trying to lose, 4.5% trying to gain, and 18% trying to maintain their weight. Smokers were more likely than non-smokers to report intentions to lose, gain, or maintain weight versus to do nothing. However, smokers were less likely than non-smokers to perceive themselves as underweight or overweight versus about the right weight. Binge drinkers were more likely than other girls to report an intention to gain and less likely to be trying to maintain their weight versus doing nothing, and breakfast-skippers were more likely to report trying to lose or gain weight but less likely to report trying to maintain weight versus doing nothing. Binge drinkers and breakfast-skippers were more likely than non-binge drinkers and non-breakfast-skippers, respectively, to perceive themselves as underweight, overweight or very overweight versus about the right weight. In sum, the majority of girls reported trying to manage their weight, and those engaging in other health-compromising behaviours were more likely to do so, though the exact nature of the associations differed by behaviour. Recognition of shared underlying risk factors for this clustering of behaviours may inform comprehensive health promotion efforts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arbour-Nicitopoulos, K. P., Faulkner, G. E., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2010). Learning from non-reported data: Interpreting missing body mass index values in young children. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 14(4), 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/1091367X.2010.520243.
Bombak, A. (2014). Obesity, health at every size, and public health policy. American Journal of Public Health, 104(2), e60–e67. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301486.
Boutelle, K., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Resnick, M. (2002). Weight control behaviors among obese, overweight, and nonoverweight adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27(6), 531–540. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/27.6.531.
Camp, D. E., Klesges, R. C., & Relyea, G. (1993). The relationship between body weight concerns and adolescent smoking. Health Psychology, 12(1), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.12.1.24.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Alcohol and public health: Binge drinking. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/binge-drinking.htm. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Cole, T. J., Bellizzi, M. C., Flegal, K. M., & Dietz, W. H. (2000). Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: International survey. BMJ, 320(7244), 1240–1243. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7244.1240.
Croll, J., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Ireland, M. (2002). Prevalence and risk and protective factors related to disordered eating behaviors among adolescents: Relationship to gender and ethnicity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 31(2), 166–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00368-3.
Crow, S., Eisenberg, M. E., Story, M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2006). Psychosocial and behavioral correlates of dieting among overweight and non-overweight adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(5), 569–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.05.019.
Daee, A., Robinson, P., Lawson, M., Turpin, J. A., Gregory, B., & Tobias, J. D. (2002). Psychologic and physiologic effects of dieting in adolescents. The Southern Medical Journal, 95(9), 1032–1041. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007611-200295090-00016.
Diez Roux, A. V. (2011). Complex systems thinking and current impasses in health disparities research. American Journal of Public Health, 101(9), 1627–1634. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300149.
Field, A. E., Austin, S. B., Frazier, A. L., Gillman, M. W., Camargo, C. A., Jr., & Colditz, G. A. (2002). Smoking, getting drunk, and engaging in bulimic behaviors: In which order are the behaviors adopted? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(7), 846–853. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200207000-00018.
Field, A. E., Austin, S. B., Taylor, C. B., Malspeis, S., Rosner, B., Rockett, H. R., et al. (2003). Relation between dieting and weight change among preadolescents and adolescents. Pediatrics, 112(4), 900–906. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.112.4.900.
Field, A. E., Haines, J., Rosner, B., & Willett, W. C. (2010). Weight-control behaviors and subsequent weight change among adolescents and young adult females. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91(1), 147–153. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.28321.
French, S. A., Perry, C. L., Leon, G. R., & Fulkerson, J. A. (1994). Weight concerns, dieting behavior, and smoking initiation among adolescents: A prospective study. American Journal of Public Health, 84(11), 1818–1820. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.84.11.1818.
Johnston, L. M., Matteson, C. L., & Finegood, D. T. (2014). Systems science and obesity policy: A novel framework for analyzing and rethinking population-level planning. American Journal of Public Health, 104(7), 1270–1278. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.301884.
Krahn, D., Piper, D., King, M., Olson, L., Kurth, C., & Moberg, D. P. (1996). Dieting in sixth grade predicts alcohol use in ninth grade. Journal of Substance Abuse, 8(3), 293–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-3289(96)90161-3.
Larson, N. I., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Story, M. (2009). Weight control behaviors and dietary intake among adolescents and young adults: Longitudinal findings from Project EAT. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(11), 1869–1877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2009.08.016.
Leatherdale, S. T. (2015). An examination of the co-occurrence of modifiable risk factors associated with chronic disease among youth in the COMPASS study. Cancer Causes and Control, 26(4), 519–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-015-0529-0.
Leatherdale, S. T., Brown, K. S., Carson, V., Childs, R., Dubin, J., Elliott, S. J., et al. (2014). The COMPASS study: A longitudinal hierarchical research platform for evaluating natural experiments related to changes in school-level programs, policies and built environment resources. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 331. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-331.
Leatherdale, S. T., & Laxer, R. E. (2013). Reliability and validity of the weight status and dietary intake measures in the COMPASS questionnaire: Are the self-reported measures of body mass index (BMI) and Canada’s food guide servings robust? International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-42.
Leatherdale, S. T., & Rynard, V. (2013). A cross-sectional examination of modifiable risk factors for chronic disease among a nationally representative sample of youth: Are Canadian students graduating high school with a failing grade for health? BMC Public Health, 13(1), 569. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-569.
Lohr, S. L. (1999). Sampling: Design and analysis. Boston, MA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
McKee, H., Ntoumanis, N., & Smith, B. (2013). Weight maintenance: Self-regulatory factors underpinning success and failure. Psychology & Health, 28(10), 1207–1223. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2013.799162.
McVey, G., Tweed, S., & Blackmore, E. (2004). Dieting among preadolescent and young adolescent females. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 170(10), 1559–1561. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1031247.
Minaker, L. M., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2016). Association between weight and smoking not mediated by weight loss attempts or bullying. American Journal of Health Behavior, 40(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.40.1.3.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Wall, M., Haines, J., Story, M., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2007). Why does dieting predict weight gain in adolescents? Findings from Project EAT-II: A 5-year longitudinal study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(3), 448–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2006.12.013.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Wall, M., Story, M., & Standish, A. R. (2012). Dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviors during adolescence: Associations with 10-year changes in body mass index. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(1), 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.05.010.
Pasch, K. E., Klein, E. G., Laska, M. N., Velazquez, C. E., Moe, S. G., & Lytle, L. A. (2011). Weight misperception and health risk behaviors among early adolescents. American Journal of Health Behavior, 35(6), 797–806. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.35.6.15.
Pérez, A., Gabriel, K., Nehme, E. K., Mandell, D. J., & Hoelscher, D. M. (2015). Measuring the bias, precision, accuracy, and validity of self-reported height and weight in assessing overweight and obesity status among adolescents using a surveillance system. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12(Suppl 1), S2. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-12-S1-S2.
Pirkle, E. C., & Richter, L. (2006). Personality, attitudinal and behavioral risk profiles of young female binge drinkers and smokers. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.09.012.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2011). Obesity in Canada. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/oic-oac/index-eng.php. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2012). Curbing childhood obesity: A federal, provincial and territorial framework for action to promote healthy weights. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/framework-cadre/index-eng.php. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Raffoul, A., Leatherdale, S. T., & Kirkpatrick, S. I. (2018). Dieting predicts engagement in multiple risky behaviours among adolescent Canadian girls: A longitudinal analysis. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 109(1), 61–69. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-018-0025-x.
Roehrig, M., Thompson, J. K., & Cafri, G. (2008). Effects of dieting-related messages on psychological and weight control variables. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 41(2), 164–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20470.
Sarafrazi, N., Hughes, J. P., Borrud, L., Burt, V., & Paulose-Ram, R. (2014). Perception of weight status in U.S. children and adolescents aged 8-15 years, 2005-2012. NCHS Data Brief, no 158. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db158.htm. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Seo, D. C., & Jiang, N. (2009). Associations between smoking and extreme dieting among adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(10), 1364–1373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9421-0.
Sherry, B., Jefferds, M. E., & Grummer-Strawn, L. M. (2007). Accuracy of adolescent self-report of height and weight in assessing overweight status: A literature review. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 161(12), 1154–1161. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.161.12.1154.
Sonneville, K. R., Thurston, I. B., Milliren, C. E., Kamody, R. C., Gooding, H. C., & Richmond, T. K. (2016). Helpful or harmful? Prospective association between weight misperception and weight gain among overweight and obese adolescents and young adults. International Journal of Obesity, 40(2), 328–332. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.166.
Stewart, S. H., Baker, J. M., Boland, F. J., Angelopoulos, M., Mcpherson, P., & Barton, S. (2000). Relations between dietary restraint and patterns of alcohol use in young adult women. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 14(1), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1037//0893-164X.14.I.77.
Vander Wal, J. S., & Thelen, M. H. (2000). Eating and body image concerns among obese and average-weight children. Addictive Behaviors, 25(5), 775–778. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(00)00061-7.
Acknowledgements
The COMPASS study was supported by a bridge grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) through the “Obesity – Interventions to Prevent or Treat” priority funding awards (OOP-110,788; grant awarded to ST. Leatherdale) and an operating grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) (MOP-114875; grant awarded to ST. Leatherdale). Dr. Leatherdale is a Chair in Applied Public Health Research funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in partnership with Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Sharon Kirkpatrick is funded by a Capacity Development Award from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (702855).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.
Human and Animal Rights
This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
Ethics Approval
Ethics approval was granted by the University of Waterloo Office of Research Ethics.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Raffoul, A., Leatherdale, S.T. & Kirkpatrick, S.I. Weight Management, Weight Perceptions, and Health-Compromising Behaviours Among Adolescent Girls in the COMPASS Study. J Primary Prevent 39, 345–360 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-018-0512-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-018-0512-0