Exposure to the Mass Media, Body Shape Concerns, and Use of Supplements to Improve Weight and Shape Among Male and Female Adolescents

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective. To assess the prevalence and correlates of products used to improve weight and shape among male and female adolescents.Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted of 6212 girls and 4237 boys who were 12 to 18 years of age and enrolled in the ongoing Growing Up Today Study. The outcome measure was at least weekly use of any of the following products to improve appearance, muscle mass, or strength: protein powder or shakes, creatine, amino acids/hydroxy methylbutyrate (HMB), dehydroepiandrosterone, growth hormone, or anabolic/injectable steroids.Results. Approximately 4.7% of the boys and 1.6% of the girls used protein powder or shakes, creatine, amino acids/HMB, dehydroepiandrosterone, growth hormone, or anabolic/injectable steroids at least weekly to improve appearance or strength. In multivariate models, boys and girls who thought a lot about wanting more defined muscles (boys: odds ratio [OR]: 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-2.2; girls: OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.2-3.2) or were trying to gain weight (boys: OR: 3.0; 95% CI: 2.0 -4.6; girls: OR: 4.3; 95% CI: 1.6 -11.4) were more likely than their peers to use these products. In addition, boys who read men's, fashion, or health/fitness magazines (OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.9) and girls who were trying to look like women in the media (OR: 2.9; 95% CI: 1.4 -4.0) were significantly more likely than their peers to use products to improve appearance or strength, but hours per week watching television, watching sports on television, and participation in team sports were not independently associated with using products to improve appearance or muscle mass.Conclusions. Girls and boys who frequently thought about wanting toned or well-defined muscles were at increased risk for using potentially unhealthful products to enhance their physique. These results suggest that just as girls may resort to unhealthful means to achieve a low body weight, girls and boys may also resort to unhealthful means to achieve other desired physiques. A lthough weight concerns are less common among male than female individuals, recent data suggest that these concerns are becoming more prevalent. 1 Among female individuals, weight dissatisfaction increases with relative weight, but among male individuals, the relationship is more complicated. 2,3 For both male and female individuals, it is undesirable to be overweight, but for male individuals, it is also undesirable to be too lean or not sufficiently muscular. 2,4 Most of the research on body dissatisfaction has focused on a desire to be thin and the unhealthful methods that people, mainly female individuals, use to achieve that goal. 5,6 The prevalence of a desire to be more muscular and the prevalence of using unhealthful methods to increase muscle mass or definition are less well studied. 7 Most [8][9][10][11][12] but not all studies 13 have found that use of anabolic steroids, a substance known to aid in increasing muscle mass, is more common among male than female individuals. For example, in a large cross-sectional stud...

Anabolic steroid abuse among teenage girls: An illusory problem?

“…Four large national surveys have assessed the lifetime prevalence of AAS use in American teenage girls (CDC, 2003(CDC, ,2005Field et al, 2005;SAMHSA, 1994) -yielding grossly discrepant estimates, ranging from 0.1% to 7.3% (Table 1). These discrepancies cannot reasonably be attributed to sampling differences, because the surveys showed no comparable differences in their prevalence estimates for other drugs, such as cannabis ( Table 1).…”

“…The Growing up Today study-Unlike the CDC and MTF studies, the Growing up Today (GUT) study (Field et al, 2005) places its "steroid" question last in a series of seven questions regarding substances typically used for muscle gains, fat loss, or athletic performance ( Figure 1). Therefore, having just answered the six previous questions, respondents are well cued that "anabolic/injectable steroids" refers to AAS as opposed to, say, corticosteroids.…”

Association between mass media and body weight concern among Jordanian adolescents’ residents of Amman: the role of gender and obesity

“…When comparing our results to the findings of a recent study conducted in United Arab Emirates, the internet was the most influential method on body image 47.3 and 42 % of boys and girls, respectively, followed by television (31 % boys and 37 % girls) [34]. The impact of the media on body weight perceptions among adolescents has been examined by numerous studies from western countries [12,[35][36][37]. Achtenberg [36] reported that magazine and printed media had very strong and consequential effect on body image among American adolescent girls [36].…”

“…Achtenberg [36] reported that magazine and printed media had very strong and consequential effect on body image among American adolescent girls [36]. Findings from a survey of adolescent girls conducted in the United States showed that 69 % of the participants reported that images of girls displayed in magazines influence their concerns of the perfect body shape and 47 % reported that the images forced them to lose weight [37]. Some researchers illustrated that girls who read fashion magazines often compared themselves with the models that appear in the television advertisements and the magazine articles, resulting in more negative feelings about their own body figure [12,35,37].…”

“…Findings from a survey of adolescent girls conducted in the United States showed that 69 % of the participants reported that images of girls displayed in magazines influence their concerns of the perfect body shape and 47 % reported that the images forced them to lose weight [37]. Some researchers illustrated that girls who read fashion magazines often compared themselves with the models that appear in the television advertisements and the magazine articles, resulting in more negative feelings about their own body figure [12,35,37]. On the one hand, [20,37] showed that adolescent boys also were making a lot of effort to look like boy models in the media [37].…”