Gender differences and correlates of extreme dieting behaviours in US adolescents

Abstract

This paper examined correlates of and gender differences in extreme dieting behaviours (EDBs) among 15,425 US adolescents from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Suicidal thoughts and plans, and binge drinking were related to EDBs in females, but not in males.Suicide attempts, daily smoking, and marijuana use were related to EDBs in males, but not females. Results suggest EDBs are associated with a range of negative psychosocial factors and substance use behaviours, and that these differ for boys and girls. Additional research is required to elucidate these relationships, and these results provide a focus for future research, prevention and intervention efforts. Keywords: Extreme dieting behaviours; Psychosocial Correlates; Youth Risk BehaviorSurvey (YRBS); Gender Differences. EXTREME DIETING BEHAVIOURS 3 Adolescents are at an increased risk of engaging in unhealthy or extreme weight control behaviours due to an enhanced concern over body shape and weight (Findlay, 2004, Thøgersen-Ntoumani et al., 2010. Unhealthy weight control behaviours can range from the reduction of food intake and skipping meals (Patton et al., 1997, Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2011 to more extreme behaviours such as vomiting and the consumption of laxatives (Crow et al., 2006) (Cruz-Sáez et al., 2013). Gender is known to be an important factor in disordered eating behaviours, but less is known about the underlying reasons for observed gender differences. Recent nationally representative figures suggest that in US high school students 61% of girls and 32% of boys are trying to lose weight; 12% reported fasting, 5% reported diet pill consumption, and 4% reported vomiting or laxative use (Eaton et al., 2012). Weight control behaviours are a public health concern due to their negative consequences, including increased risk of continuing the behaviour into early adulthood (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2011), and increased risk of weight gain, obesity onset and eating disorder onset (Liechty and Lee, 2013). Efforts are, therefore, needed to identify the factors associated with extreme weight control behaviours. Both the associated factors of extreme dieting behaviours and the behaviours themselves should be addressed during adolescence to enhance prevention efforts. Many factors may contribute to these behaviours; however, associations with victimization, suicidal thoughts and behaviours, depressive symptoms, body weight perceptions, and psychoactive drug use have been shown in previous research to be of importance and are further examined in this study.Previous research suggests an association between unwanted sexual experiences, such as those involving psychological or physical pressure, and disordered eating in adolescents (Capitaine et al., 2011). For example, in a large sample of US adolescents, an association between physical abuse from a partner and extreme weight control behaviours was found, with participants reporting dating violence and rape being more likely to report EXTREME DIETING BEHAVIOURS 4 vomiting, and the use of diet pil...

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