You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 153 No. 7, July 1999 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  Article
 This Article
 •Full text
 •PDF
 •Correction
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on Web of Science (67)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Topic Collections
 •Adolescent Medicine
 •Alert me on articles by topic
 Social Bookmarking
  Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Add to Digg Add to Reddit Add to Technorati Add to Twitter What's this?

Self-reported Weight Status and Dieting in a Cross-sectional Sample of Young Adolescents

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III

Richard S. Strauss, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1999;153:741-747.

Objective  To explore the relationship of self-reported weight status and dieting to actual weight and height in a cross-sectional nationally representative sample of young adolescents.

Methods  Weights and heights were obtained on 1932 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Information on adolescents' perception of weight status, desired weight, and weight loss attempts was obtained by questionnaire.

Results  Adolescents' reports of whether they considered themselves overweight or normal weight correlated poorly with medical definitions of overweight: 52% of girls who considered themselves overweight were, in fact, normal weight (body mass index <=85th percentile), while only 25% of boys who considered themselves overweight were normal weight (P<.001). Adolescent white girls were significantly more likely to consider themselves overweight, even when their weight status was normal, than black girls (P<.001), black boys (P<.001), and white boys (P<.001). Adolescent white girls were also more likely to diet than black girls (P<.001), black boys (P<.001), and white boys (P<.001). Dieting behavior was associated with whether adolescents viewed themselves as overweight independent of whether they actually were overweight. Racial differences between dieting and self-perceived weight status were limited to girls. There were no significant differences in self-perceived weight status (P=.28), dieting behaviors (P=.99), and desire to weigh less (P=.95) among black and white boys.

Conclusions  Significant sex and racial differences existed in weight perception, desired weight, and dieting. A high proportion of normal-weight white girls consider themselves overweight and have attempted to lose weight.


From the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, New Brunswick.



Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter     What's this?


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Weight Perception and Dieting Behavior Among Korean Adolescents
Lee et al.
The Journal of School Nursing 2009;25:427-435.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exploring the Relationship Among Weight, Race, and Sexual Behaviors Among Girls
Akers et al.
Pediatrics 2009;124:e913-e920.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Health behavior interests of adolescents with unhealthy diet and exercise: implications for weight management
Thunfors et al.
Health Educ Res 2009;24:634-645.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Relationship Between Parents' and Children's Weight Perceptions Results of a Survey
Huang et al.
ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition 2009;1:15-20.
ABSTRACT  

Select Parent and Family System Correlates of Adolescent Current Weight Status: A Pilot Study
Hooper et al.
The Family Journal 2009;17:14-21.
ABSTRACT  

Public perception of overweight
Bleich
BMJ 2008;337:a347-a347.
FULL TEXT  

Weight-Related Concerns and Behaviors in Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes
Howe et al.
J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc 2008;13:376-385.
ABSTRACT  

Far from ideal: Weight perception, weight control, and associated risky behaviour of adolescent girls in Nova Scotia
Cook et al.
cfp 2007;53:678-684.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Treatment of Eating Disorders in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
Fisher
Pediatr. Rev. 2006;27:5-16.
FULL TEXT  

Relation Between Dieting and Weight Change Among Preadolescents and Adolescents
Field et al.
Pediatrics 2003;112:900-906.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Identifying and Treating Eating Disorders
Committee on Adolescence
Pediatrics 2003;111:204-211.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1999 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.