Eating habits and physical activity in dieter and non-dieter youth: A gender analysis of English and Spanish adolescents

P Ramos, Fiona Brooks, Irene Garcia-Moya, F. Rivera, Carmen Moreno

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A high prevalence of youth is overweight or obese, and a frequent lack of monitoring of their weight control strategies is observed. Consequently, this paper compares the eating habits and physical activities of male and female dieters and non-dieters. Data are obtained from the large cross-national WHO collaborative study “Health Behavior in School-aged Children 2010”. The current sample consists of 9,444 students aged 11, 13 and 15 years from England and Spain. Participants are asked about dieting, vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, breakfast frequency and fruit, vegetable, sweet and soft drink consumption. A logistic regression is used to examine the differences between dieters and non-dieters with regard to the aforementioned eating and physical activity habits. Differences between genders, countries, and those associated with BMI (body mass index) are also considered. The results suggest that the reality of weight control differs from the major health promotion recommendations during adolescence.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)575-582
Number of pages8
JournalThe Social Science Journal
Volume50
Issue number4
Early online date25 Oct 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2013

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