Table 4.

Perceived factors influencing weight management, and differences by age category, BMI category, marital status, education and income, among a cohort of young women who participated in an online survey, Australia, 31 July–30 September 2012

	Does not influence		Moderate influence		A major influence		Age (years)	BMI (kg/m2)	Marital status	Highest education level	Income
	%	n	%	n	%	n	P value*	P value*	P value*	P value*	P value*
Factors relating to physical activity/exercise (n 517)
Do not have the motivation to do physical activity, exercise or sport	28·2	146	27·9	144	43·9	227	0·06	0·022	0·76	0·445	0·151
Do not enjoy physical activity, exercise or sport	63·1	326	17·2	89	19·7	102	0·264	<0·001	0·819	0·456	0·012
Do not have the skills to do physical activity, exercise or sport	68·7	355	14·9	77	16·4	85	0·258	0·056	0·300	0·202	0·015
Do not have the support of my family/partner to be physically active	72·3	374	13·6	70	14·1	73	0·447	0·001	0·693	0·448	<0·001
Do not have the support of my friends to be physically active	73·1	378	13·9	72	13·0	67	0·322	0·331	0·726	0·872	0·002
Do not know enough information about how to increase physical activity	69·8	361	16·5	85	13·7	71	0·003	0·001	0·012	0·23	0·027
Do not have access to places to do physical activity, exercise or sport	68·1	352	14·5	75	17·4	90	0·066	0·013	0·507	0·586	0·004
Not able to find physical activity facilities that are inexpensive	42·4	219	17·4	90	40·2	208	0·013	0·258	0·790	0·129	<0·001
Do not have time to be physically active because of my job	33·1	171	25·5	132	41·4	214	0·653	0·707	0·935	0·001	0·001
Do not have time to be physically active because of my family commitments	58·8	304	18·8	97	22·4	116	0·092	0·265	0·001	0·403	0·015
Factors relating to healthy eating (n 512)
Do not have the motivation to eat a healthy diet	43·9	225	29·1	149	27·0	138	0·217	0·002	0·472	0·466	0·044
Do not enjoy eating healthy foods	70·5	361	17·8	91	11·7	60	0·17	0·155	0·579	0·430	0·047
Do not have the skills to plan, shop for, prepare or cook healthy foods	62·7	321	16·8	86	20·5	105	0·005	0·066	<0·001	0·009	<0·001
Do not have the support of my family/partner to eat a healthy diet	66·2	339	17·6	90	16·2	83	0·364	0·002	0·791	0·577	0·011
Do not have the support of my friends to eat a healthy diet	69·5	356	18·6	95	11·9	61	<0·001	0·146	0·185	0·419	0·034
Do not know enough information about healthy eating	67·6	346	16·0	82	16·4	84	0·01	0·001	0·094	0·028	<0·001
Do not have access to healthy foods	79·1	405	12·3	63	8·6	44	0·04	<0·001	0·632	0·290	0·001
Not able to buy healthy foods that are inexpensive	58·8	301	16·0	82	25·2	129	0·015	0·048	0·001	0·097	<0·001
Do not have enough time to prepare or eat healthy foods because of my job	41·8	214	22·9	117	35·3	181	0·744	0·088	0·628	0·314	0·002
Do not have time to prepare or eat healthy foods because of my family commitments	67·0	343	15·6	80	17·4	89	0·627	0·023	0·207	0·017	0·112

*The χ ² test was used for examining differences in perceived factors influencing weight management between subgroups; P<0·01 indicates statistical significance.