Examined body dissatisfaction, physical attractiveness, and body mass index in adolescents at 13, 15, and 18 years of age. Found that sex differences in body dissatisfaction emerged between 13 and 15 years and were maintained. Girls' body dissatisfaction increased, whereas boys' decreased. Body dissatisfaction was weakly related to others' rating…

Examined private and public high school adolescents' weight control and nutrition behaviors, using Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data. Private school females were more likely to diet and exercise than public school females. Public school males were more likely to attempt weight gain than private high school males. Private school students…

Examines facts about eating disorders, which typically affect females in their teens, discussing the causes of anorexia and bulimia, describing their effects on the body, and explaining available treatment. Though eating disorders are very serious and potentially fatal, they are treatable. Treatment includes physician evaluation, possible…

Investigated whether being a good model of physical activity and fitness would influence employability within the physical education (PE) profession. Surveys of individuals who hired PE teachers indicated that being 10-20 pounds overweight was detrimental when seeking employment as a public school PE teacher during both initial screening and final…

Investigates the body concerns of adolescent girls (N=67), together with the underlying motivations for wishes to be thinner. Results of focus group studies reveal that sociocultural influences exerted the strongest pressures to be thin. The girls displayed an unexpected sophistication in their conceptualization of the role of both media effects…

Compares actual and preferred weights of dieters and nondieters and examines the relationship of increasing weight to preferred weight and the decision to diet in high school students. Most dieters studied were not overweight. Some were even underweight. Documents the need for effective nutrition and exercise programs to help students accept and…

This study examined whether a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) nutrition program would help employees maintain weight loss and dietary intake improvements over time. Subjects received either no nutrition education, education with microcomputer use, or education without microcomputers. Posttesting found greater weight loss for CAI participants,…

Evaluated a television-delivered behavioral weight reduction program. Overweight adults (n=71) were randomly assigned to a live-contact weight loss group videotaped for viewing by other groups, a live-contact group not videotaped, a television-delivered group that observed the videotaped weight loss sessions, or a waiting-list control group.…

Participants were 130 obese women who reported undertaking a mean lifetime total of 4.7 major diets on which they had lost a mean of 45.9 kilograms. Participants with a severe history of weight cycling had a significantly younger age of onset of obesity than mild cyclers and reported initiating dieting at a significantly younger age and lower…

Eating disorders among teens and younger children have reached epidemic levels. The school's primary role in helping students who may have eating disorders is referring them to specialists. Schools can also help students learn good eating habits and designate a resource person to serve as a liaison with community medical and mental health…

Because of similarities in age, education, and background, group counselors and members of eating disorders groups may easily identify and connect with each other. A model of supervision based on parallel process is presented to address these issues. In addition, it describes societal values relating to eating disorders, discusses themes in eating…

Background: This study addresses limitations of previous research by examining the prevalence of body image dissatisfaction within two developmental periods: childhood and adolescence. Methods: A sample of 448 boys and 508 girls completed self-report measures of global body image dissatisfaction. Weight and height of all participants were also…

Aims: To examine the relationship between failure to thrive in preterm and term infants and postnatal depression in their mothers. Method: In a whole population birth cohort of 12,391 infants (excluding those born after term or with major congenital abnormalities) failure to thrive over the first nine months was identified using a conditional…

National level data were analyzed to establish the nature of association and the magnitude of contribution of education exposure to variance on measures nutritional well-being across Africa. Height and weight dependent anthropometric measures were used to assess nutritional well-being. Literacy (illiteracy) rates were the measures of educational…

Lower birth weight babies have worse outcomes, both short-run in terms of one year mortality rates and longer run in terms of educational attainment and earnings. However, recent research has called into question whether birth weight itself is important or whether it simply reflects other hard-to-measure characteristics. By applying within twin…