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Associations between different forms of body dissatisfaction and the use of weight-related behaviors among a representative population-based sample of adolescents

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Abstract

Weight management strategies have two components: weight goals and behaviors to reach weight goals. In the literature, weight goals and weight-related behaviors have both been linked with body dissatisfaction separately, but have rarely been examined simultaneously. This paper examines the associations between different forms of body dissatisfaction and various weight-related behaviors and investigates the moderating role of weight goals in these associations. Measures included weight goals (matching or mismatching current weight status), self-reported frequencies of use of weight-related behaviors, and a body dissatisfaction measure (strength of aspiring for weight gain or weight loss) from a representative population-based sample of adolescents (n = 2,346, 51 % female). Sex-specific multilevel logistic and ordinal regression analyses indicated that aspiring for a thinner body among girls was associated with more frequent use of healthy and unhealthy behaviors, whereas body dissatisfaction of any type among boys was linked to more frequent use of unhealthy behaviors. Girls aspiring for substantial weight loss and boys aspiring for substantial weight gain were more likely to use disordered health behaviors. Aiming for a goal that is mismatched with current weight status increases the use of unhealthy behaviors among body dissatisfied adolescents. We conclude that in order to elaborate interventions aimed at promoting health, research should focus on processes leading to specific forms of body dissatisfaction which in turn produce varying frequencies of use of weight-related behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Institut de la statistique du Québec and the Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics for providing access to the dataset. M.R. holds a FRSQ (Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec) Postdoctoral Fellowship. L.G. holds a CIHR/CRPO (Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Centre de recherche en prévention de l’obésité) Applied Public Health Chair on Neighbourhoods, Lifestyle, and Healthy Body Weight.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Mathieu Roy & Lise Gauvin

  2. CRCHUM, Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Mathieu Roy & Lise Gauvin

  3. Léa-Roback Research Center on Social Inequalities of Health in Montreal, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Mathieu Roy & Lise Gauvin

  4. Research Centre on Aging, Health and Social Services Center-University Institute of Geriatrics of Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, 1036 rue Belvédère sud, Sherbrooke, QC, J1H 4C4, Canada

    Mathieu Roy

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Roy, M., Gauvin, L. Associations between different forms of body dissatisfaction and the use of weight-related behaviors among a representative population-based sample of adolescents. Eat Weight Disord 18, 61–73 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0007-1

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