Predisposing factors differentiating adolescent dieters and nondieters.

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether certain biological, sociocultural, and psychological factors differentiate dieters from nondieters in male and female, black and white adolescents.

DESIGN

In each race-sex group adolescents were divided into nondieters and dieters (those who had lost at least 5 lb through dieting) and compared using factors associated with overweight and dieting.

SUBJECTS

Participants were 1,269 high school seniors, with a mean (+/- standard deviation) age of 17.5 +/- 0.6 years, from 10 schools in a large metropolitan area (72% of enrolled students).

INTERVENTION

Each student completed a self-administered questionnaire designed for this research, the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory, and the Eating Disorder Inventory.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Comparisons were made of dieters and nondieters using their previous and current weights, parental weights, birth order, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, self-esteem scores, and other psychological factors.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Statistical analyses performed were chi 2 and t tests.

RESULTS

Factors thought to be associated with overweight in adolescents, such as parental weights, birth order, and socioeconomic status, were not found to be significantly different in dieters and nondieters in any of the four race-sex groups. In fact, the majority of dieters in this study were not overweight (ie, above the 85th percentile of body mass index). Instead, what most clearly distinguished dieters from nondieters was their perception of being overweight before kindergarten, after kindergarten, and at the time of the study, and the feelings of body dissatisfaction and wanting to be thinner that being overweight engenders.

APPLICATIONS

Because most adolescents diet because they perceive themselves to be overweight when they are not, adolescent dieters are not easy to identify. Instead, dietitians can offer educational programs that help all adolescents accept more realistic weights and adopt patterns of eating and exercise that remove or reduce the need to diet.