1. Diet advices/weight loss
information from magazines
and from the Internet and their
associations to health
behaviors among adolescents
Kornelia Szabo
2011
Semmelweis University

2. Magazines
Study 1

3. Dieting advice from magazines
• Objective:
• Evaluate associations
between frequent reading
of magazine articles
about dieting/weight loss
and weight-control
behaviors and
psychological outcomes 5
years later in a sample of
adolescents.

4. Participants and Methods
• Data: Project EAT (Eating Among Teens),
a 5-year longitudinal study of eating,
activity, weight, and related variables in
2516 middle and high school students.
• Time 1: 1999
• Method: surveys & height and weight
measured
• Time 2: 2004 (participants were
resurveyed)

5. Methods
• Project EAT (1998-1999):
– Eating behaviors
– Weight concerns
– Related variables
– 4746 students (in grades 7-12) boys&girls
• Project EAT II. (2003-2004):
– 2516 students (from original sample)
• Final study population: 1130 male participants
(45%) and 1386 female participants (55%) who
completed the surveys at both time 1 and time 2.

6. Methods
• Frequency of diet/weight loss magazine article
reading
• BMI and weight status
• Weight importance
• Weight control behaviors
• Binge eating
• Body satisfaction
• Depressive symptoms
• Self-esteem
• Sociodemographic characteristics

7. Results
• For female adolescents, the
frequency of
– healthy,
– unhealthy,
– and extreme weight-control
behaviours increased with
increasing magazine reading
(after adjusting for time 1 weight-
control behaviours, weight
importance, BMI, and
demographic covariates)

8. Results
• The odds of engaging in
unhealthy weight-control
behaviours such as:
– fasting,
– skipping meals,
– and smoking more cigarettes
• were twice as high for the
most frequent readers
compared with those who did
not read magazine articles
about dieting and weight loss.

9. Results
• The odds of using extreme
weight-control behaviours such
as
– vomiting
– or using laxatives
• were 3 times higher in the
highest frequency readers
compared with those who did
not read such magazines.
• There were no significant
associations for either weight-
control behaviours or
psychological outcomes for
male adolescents.

10. Conclusions
• Frequent reading of magazine articles
about dieting/weight loss strongly
predicted unhealthy weight-control
behaviours in adolescent girls, but not
boys, 5 years later.
• Need for interventions aimed at reducing
exposure to, and the importance placed
on, media messages regarding dieting
and weight loss.

11. Internet
Study 2

12. Weight loss information on the
Internet
• Objective:
• Association between seeking weight loss information
from the Internet and weight loss behaviours
• Self-administered survey: on 3,181 women, aged 16–24
years, between August 2008 and August 2010.
• Questions:
– use of the Internet to obtain weight loss information and various
weight loss practices
• Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed
to examine the association between seeking weight loss
information online and practicing these weight loss
behaviours.

13. Results
• In all, 39% used the Internet to
seek weight loss information.
• Women who obtained weight loss
information from the Internet were
more likely to
– exercise,
– use diet pills,
– laxatives,
– diuretics,
– vomit after eating,
– skip meals,
– smoke more cigarettes,
– and stop eating carbohydrates,
(after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity,
body mass index, and education)

14. Conclusion
• Many young women
engage in unhealthy
weight loss
behaviours which
they may learn online.
• Interventions are
needed to instruct
young women on safe
practices to lose
weight.