Body image and eating behavior in adolescent boys
D. C. Moore
Department of Pediatrics, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA 98431.
A questionnaire about attitudes toward body weight and shape, and eating
and weight control practices, was administered to 895 adolescent boys.
Overall, 42% were dissatisfied with their weight and 33% with their body
shape. Sixty-eight percent of the dissatisfied normal weight boys thought
they were underweight and 32% thought they were overweight. Subjects
dissatisfied with their body shape were most likely to desire an increased
chest and arm size and decreased abdomen size. Binge eating (24%) and
fasting (12%) were the most prevalent eating practices and were more common
in boys dissatisfied with weight or shape. There was no difference in
prevalence of eating practices between boys wishing to gain and boys
wishing to lose weight. Although many boys were concerned about body weight
and shape, they wished to increase weight and muscularity, rather than lose
weight. Binge eating was common, but was not related to the binge-purge
cycle described in girls, because losing weight is not a major concern, and
other weight control practices were not more common among boys who wanted
to lose weight vs gain.
