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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Adolesc Health. 2018 Sep;63(3):335–341. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.03.022

Differential Risk Factors for Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors by Sex and Weight Status Among U.S. Adolescents

Jason M Nagata 1, Andrea K Garber 1, Jennifer L Tabler 2, Stuart B Murray 3, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo 4,5
PMCID: PMC6152843  NIHMSID: NIHMS965992  PMID: 30236999

Abstract

Purpose

To determine if previously reported risk factors for the development of unhealthy weight control behaviors differ by sex and weight status using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of adolescents followed through young adulthood.

Methods

We used nationally representative longitudinal cohort data collected from baseline (11–18 years old, 1994–1995, Wave I) and seven-year follow-up (18–24 years old, 2001–2002, Wave III) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We examined adverse childhood events and adolescent family, school, body image, and mental health factors for development of unhealthy weight control behaviors including vomiting, fasting/skipping meals, or laxative/diuretic use to lose weight at seven-year follow-up in young adulthood.

Results

Of the 14,322 included subjects, 11% reported unhealthy weight control behavior at follow-up in young adulthood, with the highest proportion (23.7%) among overweight/obese females and the lowest proportion (3.7%) among underweight/normal weight males (12.9%). All adolescent family factors were significantly associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight/normal weight females whereas none were significantly associated in overweight/obese males. Similar trends were noted for adverse childhood events and adolescent school and community factors. Adolescent self-perception of being overweight was associated with young adult unhealthy weight control behaviors among all subgroups.

Conclusions

Risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors may differ based on sex and weight status. Screening, prevention, and treatment interventions for unhealthy weight control behaviors in adolescents and young adults may need to be tailored based on sex and weight status.

Keywords: Obesity, overweight, eating behavior, eating disorders, disordered eating behaviors, adolescents, young adults, family functioning, body image

Implications and Contribution

With a nationally representative sample, this study shows that family and school factors are associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in under/normal weight females but not in overweight/obese adolescents or in males. Prevention, screening, and treatment interventions for unhealthy weight control behaviors may need to be tailored based on sex and weight status.

Introduction

Unhealthy weight control behaviors including vomiting, fasting/skipping meals, or laxative/diuretic use to lose weight are common among adolescents and young adults [1] and are associated with increased risk for eating disorders [2, 3], alcohol and tobacco use[4], mental health problems [5], and poor nutritional intake and quality [5]. Given these potentially serious medical and psychosocial consequences, unhealthy weight control behaviors represent significant public health challenges. Although traditionally thought to be limited to underweight females, unhealthy weight control behaviors are increasingly recognized among those who are overweight or obese [6] and among males [7, 8].

Previous studies have identified various socioenvironmental risk factors for the development of unhealthy weight control behaviors such as family dysfunction and disconnectedness [6, 9], school disconnectedness [8, 10], and adverse childhood events [11]. Prior regional samples have reported that higher family functioning and parent connection were associated with lower odds of engaging in unhealthy weight control behaviors [6, 9, 12]. Furthermore, childhood physical [11] and sexual abuse [13] has been shown to be associated with the development of unhealthy weight control behaviors. Although some of these studies did examine risk by sex, they did not also disaggregate by weight status. The presentations of unhealthy weight control behaviors may differ by both sex [7] and by weight status, particularly for those who are overweight or obese [14]; however, little is known about how risk for unhealthy weight control behaviors may differ when disaggregated by both sex and weight status.

Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine differences in risk during adolescence by sex and weight status for the development of unhealthy weight control behaviors in young adulthood using a nationally representative longitudinal sample (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Conceptual framework for how adverse childhood events and adolescent socio-environmental and psychological factors may predict young adult unhealthy weight control behaviors differently by sex and weight status.

Methods

Study design and sample

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has followed a nationally representative cohort of youth in the US from adolescence through adulthood [15]. The baseline sample used systematic sampling methods and implicit stratification to ensure that the high schools (n=80) and middle schools (n=52) selected were representative of US schools with respect to region of country, urbanicity, size, type, and ethnicity. For this particular study, we used the restricted-use baseline sample (Wave I), which was collected from 1994–1995 when subjects were 11–18 years old and seven-year follow-up data (Wave III), which was collected in 2001–2002 when subjects were 18–24 years old. We included subjects in the nationally representative weighted sample who had data at both baseline and seven-year follow-up (N=14,322). Further details about the Add Health study design, coordinated by the Carolina Population Center, can be found elsewhere [15]. The University of North Carolina Institutional Review Board approved all Add Health study procedures, and the University of California, San Francisco Institutional Review Board deemed this specific project exempt.

Procedures

At baseline and seven-year follow-up, an interviewer traveled to the home or another suitable location for the potential participant. Written consent was obtained from the parent if the participant was under age 18, or from the participant if 18 or older. Interviews lasted approximately 90 minutes and were conducted in as private an area as possible. Audio computer-assisted self-interview (baseline) and computer-assisted self-interview (follow-up) were used by participants to answer potentially sensitive questions.

Measures

Baseline measures

Demographic characteristics; socioenvironmental variables including family, school, and community factors; adverse childhood events; body image and weight factors; and mental health questions were collected during an in-home interview. Family factors included questions about family functioning and family connectedness. School and community factors included questions about how much adolescents felt cared for by friends, teachers, and other adults. Adverse childhood events included reports of childhood physical or sexual abuse or neglect. Body image and weight factors included weight perception (“how do you think of yourself in terms of weight?”) and if adolescents were currently trying to lose weight. Depression score was a modified version of the Center for Disease Epidemiology Depression Scale (CESD-20) [16]. A full list of measures is listed in online Appendix A.

Self-reported weight (pounds) and height (inches) were converted to kilograms and meters to calculate body mass index (BMI) using the standard formula weight (kilograms) divided by height (meters) squared (BMI = weight/height2). BMI was then converted into sex- and age-specific percentiles and then classified as underweight (BMI <5th percentile), normal weight (5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile), overweight (85th to less than the 95th percentile), or obese (95th percentile or greater) in accordance with guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [17].

Seven-year follow-up measures

Unhealthy weight control behaviors including vomiting, fasting/skipping meals, or laxative/diuretic use to lose weight in the past seven days were self-reported at seven-year follow-up during an in-home interview as the primary outcome variable [18].

Statistical analysis

Data analysis was performed in 2017 using STATA 15.0. We used Add Health’s pre-constructed sample weights to provide a nationally representative sample [19, 20]. We tested unadjusted differences between adolescent risk factors and unhealthy weight control behaviors in young adulthood using Chi-square tests, disaggregated by sex and weight status. We used multiple logistic regression to identify associations between unhealthy weight control behaviors and family, school, community, adverse childhood events, and body image factors, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and household income [6, 9, 21]. These analyses are disaggregated by sex and weight status to identify potential differences in associations based on sex or weight category. Alpha was set at 95% confidence, and p<0.05 is considered significant.

Results

Of the 18,924 adolescents in the nationally representative weighted baseline sample, 14,322 (75.7%) had seven-year follow-up data. Baseline demographic and anthropometric characteristics of the sample are reported in Table 1, disaggregated by sex and weight status. Overall, 11% reported unhealthy weight control behavior at seven-year follow-up, with the highest proportion (23.7%) among overweight or obese females and the lowest proportion (3.7%) among underweight or normal weight males (12.9%).

Table 1.

Baseline demographic and anthropometric characteristics and outcome at seven-year follow up, by sex and baseline weight status

na Total Underweight or normal weight Overweight or obese
Female Male Female Male
N 14,322 14,322 5,598 4,798 1,965 1,961
Total Mean ± SE / %b Mean ± SE / %b Mean ± SE / %b Mean ± SE / %b Mean ± SE / %b
Demographic characteristics
Age 14,314 15.94 ± 0.12 15.89 ± 0.12 16.08 ± 0.12 15.80 ± 0.14 15.88 ± 0.14
Race/ethnicity 14,312
White (non-Hispanic) 67.9% 72.2% 68.6% 58.0% 64.6%
Black/African American (non-Hispanic) 15.5% 12.8% 14.8% 24.6% 16.0%
Hispanic/Latino 11.8% 10.3% 11.5% 14.9% 13.9%
Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 3.4% 3.8% 4.0% 1.4% 3.1%
American Indian/Native American 0.5% 0.4% 0.3% 0.8% 1.5%
Other 0.8% 0.7% 0.9% 0.3% 1.0%
Household income, (thousands of dollars, parent report) 10,830 45.74 ± 1.68 49.23 ± 2.18 47.50 ± 2.05 39.03 ± 1.85 38.92 ± 1.23
Baseline anthropometric characteristics
Body mass index (BMI), kg/m2 13,942 22.47 ± 0.11 20.35 ± 0.06 20.53 ± 0.09 28.58 ± 0.15 28.21 ± 0.19
Outcome variable
Unhealthy weight control behavior 14,322 11.0% 12.9% 3.7% 23.7% 12.6%
a

Group n may not sum to toal N because of missing data

b

All means and percentages are calculated with weighted data to reflect the representative proportion in the target U.S. population

In unadjusted comparisons, underweight or normal weight females who reported unhealthy weight control behaviors reported lower satisfaction with family factors compared to those who did not report unhealthy weight control behaviors (Table 2). For instance, underweight or normal weight females with versus without unhealthy weight control behaviors reported lower satisfaction with their relationship with their mother (81.7% vs 86.2%, p=0.013) and father (72.1% vs 81.0%, p=0.001), respectively. All family factors were significantly associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight or normal weight females whereas none were significantly associated in males across all weight strata. Similar trends were noted for school and community factors (Table 2). Body image and weight concerns were associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors among all subgroups. Depressive symptoms were associated with increased odds of unhealthy weight control behaviors in females but not males.

Table 2.

Unadjusted adolescent risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCB) in young adulthood, by sex and weight status

Unhealthy weight control behaviors
Underweight or normal weight at baseline Overweight or obese at baseline
Female Male Female Male
No UWCB UWCB pa No UWCB UWCB pa No UWCB UWCB pa No UWCB UWCB pa
Family factors
Mother cares (very much) 89.5 % 86.0 % 0.029 91.2 % 91.5 % 0.945 87.0 % 84.0 % 0.222 89.7 % 89.1 % 0.853
Mother communication (satisfied) 76.5 % 69.7 % 0.005 83.1 % 83.5 % 0.925 77.2 % 73.7 % 0.264 86.4 % 87.0 % 0.877
Satisfied with relationship with mother (satisfied) 86.2 % 81.7 % 0.013 91.7 % 90.9 % 0.917 84.4 % 82.4 % 0.450 93.4 % 92.6 % 0.749
Father cares (very much) 83.7 % 78.2 % 0.020 83.3 % 77.7 % 0.198 80.9 % 83.4 % 0.413 81.6 % 85.5 % 0.456
Father communication (satisfied) 73.8 % 67.0 % 0.022 79.5 % 76.5 % 0.550 72.3 % 66.8 % 0.183 80.8 % 78.2 % 0.573
Satisfied with relationship with father (satisfied) 81.0 % 72.1 % 0.001 86.1 % 81.1 % 0.240 77.3 % 72.1 % 0.111 86.8 % 84.2 % 0.511
Parents care (very much) 86.9 % 80.6 % <0.001 84.6 % 85.2 % 0.886 83.0 % 81.8 % 0.654 86.4 % 84.5 % 0.508
Family understands (quite a bit / very much) 55.0 % 45.5 % <0.001 56.9 % 56.5 % 0.915 49.8 % 48.5 % 0.710 61.6 % 59.0 % 0.608
Family pays attention (quite a bit / very much) 71.9 % 57.5 % <0.001 72.9 % 68.9 % 0.380 66.2 % 59.2 % 0.023 73.3 % 66.9 % 0.142
Family has fun (quite a bit / very much) 62.7 % 51.6 % <0.001 61.5 % 63.3 % 0.689 61.4 % 57.5 % 0.246 67.0 % 66.2 % 0.854
Want to leave home (very much) 5.7% 9.3% 0.003 6.0% 8.2% 0.344 9.1% 9.7% 0.794 4.5% 5.6% 0.592
School and community factors
Adults care (very much) 61.5 % 53.4 % 0.002 51.0 % 44.9 % 0.236 58.4 % 55.1 % 0.353 52.3 % 59.7 % 0.146
Teachers care (very much) 19.4 % 13.4 % 0.004 17.1 % 16.8 % 0.928 19.2 % 16.7 % 0.368 17.9 % 19.5 % 0.689
Friends care (very much) 54.8 % 48.8 % 0.049 36.8 % 28.5 % 0.052 49.2 % 45.3 % 0.240 34.0 % 35.4 % 0.730
Happy at school (agree / strongly agree) 66.9 % 59.4 % 0.003 67.4 % 64.2 % 0.513 63.0 % 60.8 % 0.532 69.2 % 68.7 % 0.896
Adverse childhood events
Any physical abuse 24.4 % 36.3 % <0.001 29.0 % 41.4 % 0.017 29.0 % 32.6 % 0.279 29.8 % 37.3 % 0.133
Any sexual abuse 4.4% 4.7% 0.799 3.9% 6.5% 0.201 4.4% 6.9% 0.110 5.7% 5.2% 0.842
Any neglect 35.8 % 45.2 % <0.001 43.8 % 51.0 % 0.213 37.7 % 48.1 % 0.006 41.3 % 41.5 % 0.967
Basic needs (food, clothing, keeping clean) not met 7.9% 9.4% 0.341 13.7 % 18.5 % 0.149 9.2% 15.0 % 0.004 15.6 % 19.7 % 0.265
Body image and weight concerns
Weight perception (slightly / very overweight) 24.8 % 40.1 % <0.001 7.5% 19.8 % <0.001 77.6 % 87.2 % <0.001 60.8 % 70.7 % 0.023
Trying to lose weight 34.3 % 57.3 % <0.001 8.3% 25.2 % <0.001 72.7 % 83.9 % <0.001 48.7 % 58.9 % 0.017
Mental health
Depressive symptoms 26.3 % 38.2 % <0.001 19.1 % 24.8 % 0.178 35.6 % 43.7 % 0.018 19.8 % 21.5 % 0.686

Bold indicates p-value <0.05

a

Pearson’s chi square test

Table 3 reports odds (adjusted odds ratios) of unhealthy weight control behaviors based on family, school and community, adverse childhood, body image, and mental health factors, while adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and household income. Multiple logistic regression models are disaggregated by sex and weight status. Similar to unadjusted models, family, school, and community factors are most consistently associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in the underweight or normal weight female subgroup, but not other subgroups. For instance, female underweight or normal weight subjects reporting that their mother cared very much compared to not caring very much have 36% lower odds of development of unhealthy weight control behaviors at follow-up. Perception of being slightly or very overweight is associated with higher odds of unhealthy weight control behavior at follow-up in all subgroups (p<0.05).

Table 3.

Adjusted adolescent risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors in young adulthood, by sex and weight status

Unhealthy weight control behaviors
Underweight or normal weight at baseline Overweight or obese at baseline
Female Male Female Male
OR p OR p OR p OR p
Family factors
Mother cares 0.74 0.050 1.01 0.989 0.70 0.104 1.12 0.816
Satisfied with mother’s communication 0.65 0.001 0.96 0.897 0.79 0.242 1.14 0.716
Satisfied with relationship with mother 0.69 0.018 1.09 0.839 0.79 0.293 1.10 0.839
Father cares 0.64 0.007 0.54 0.035 1.05 0.854 1.57 0.343
Satisfied with father’s communication 0.74 0.002 0.67 0.246 0.67 0.072 0.93 0.813
Satisfied with relationship with father 0.64 0.009 0.58 0.569 0.59 0.010 0.80 0.511
Parents care 0.63 0.001 0.76 0.397 0.73 0.131 0.74 0.239
Family understands 0.65 <0.001 0.99 0.944 0.90 0.543 0.86 0.528
Family pays attention 0.50 <0.001 0.79 0.373 0.64 0.008 0.75 0.230
Family has fun 0.69 0.001 0.92 0.698 0.73 0.048 0.84 0.449
Want to leave home 1.92 0.002 1.60 0.261 1.26 0.436 1.29 0.582
School and community factors
Adults care 0.73 0.012 0.68 0.115 0.88 0.445 1.27 0.308
Teachers care 0.66 0.016 0.64 0.202 0.82 0.380 1.11 0.676
Friends care 0.83 0.178 0.68 0.103 0.77 0.111 0.99 0.977
Happy at school 0.76 0.025 0.86 0.554 0.85 0.335 0.83 0.408
Adverse childhood events
Any physical abuse 1.76 <0.001 1.45 0.150 1.22 0.265 1.63 0.037
Any sexual abuse 1.27 0.361 1.18 0.769 1.85 0.108 0.73 0.573
Neglect 1.54 0.002 0.98 0.928 1.65 0.004 1.08 0.710
Basic needs not met 1.37 0.165 1.09 0.796 1.73 0.014 1.41 0.245
Body image and weight concerns
Weight perception 1.88 <0.001 3.25 <0.001 1.96 0.009 1.58 0.034
Trying to lose weight 2.47 <0.001 3.69 <0.001 1.62 0.012 1.35 0.133
Mental health
Depressive symptoms 1.65 <0.001 1.45 0.232 1.58 0.006 1.23 0.482

Bold indicates p-value <0.05

a

OR = odds ratio, adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, and household income

Discussion

In this large, nationally representative longitudinal sample, we find that family, school, and community factors are associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors only in underweight or normal weight females. These same factors are not consistently associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors among males or overweight/obese adolescents. This finding is important since prevention, screening, and treatment interventions for unhealthy weight control behaviors may need to be tailored based on sex and weight status.

Previous studies have similarly found that a positive family environment is associated with lower odds of engaging in unhealthy weight control behaviors, but these studies did not disaggregate results by baseline weight status and sex [6, 9, 12]. Two of these studies did, however, find shared risk and protective factors (including body dissatisfaction and weight concerns) for unhealthy weight control behaviors and overweight/obesity as separate outcomes.[6, 9] This research contributes to the literature by disaggregating the odds by baseline sex and weight status, finding that these associations were only present in underweight or normal weight females.

Our findings that adverse childhood events are associated with increased odds of unhealthy weight control behaviors is consistent with previous literature [11, 13], and disaggregation by sex and weight status provides additional insights. Childhood physical abuse has previously been shown to be associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in women [11]. When disaggregating by weight and sex we find that childhood physical abuse is associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight or normal weight females and overweight or obese males in adjusted models. Prior studies that did not disaggregate by sex and weight status did not find a significant association between childhood neglect and unhealthy weight control behaviors [11]; however, when we disaggregated these groups we found that childhood neglect was associated with increased odds of unhealthy weight control behaviors in females but not in males across both weight categories.

Our study adds to this previous literature by showing that previously reported family-related associations with unhealthy weight control behaviors may be most applicable to the subset of underweight or normal weight females. In our sample and in others, overweight or obese adolescents reported higher levels of unhealthy weight control behaviors than underweight or normal weight adolescents [6, 14]. It is possible that the risk factors and etiology for unhealthy weight control behaviors among overweight or obese adolescents and in males may be different than for underweight or normal weight females.

Unhealthy weight control behaviors and eating disorders in males are typically under-recognized and therefore represent an important area of research [7, 8]. Crucially, the present results underscore the notion that results documenting the risk and maintenance of disordered eating practices in largely female populations cannot be seamlessly extrapolated to male populations, since males with unhealthy weight control behaviors may present fundamentally differently than female counterparts [7, 8, 2225]. In this study, depressive symptoms and childhood neglect were associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in females but not males. The only family factor protective of unhealthy weight control behavior in underweight or normal weight males was the perception that one’s father cared very much. Given that most family and school factors were not significantly associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in males across weight categories, there may be different risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors in this subgroup. However, it is important to note that the questions designed to assess disordered eating practices (i.e., laxative use, purging) may have been more salient for females, given that males may engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors connected to muscularity-oriented concerns, rather than thinness oriented concerns [7, 22]. Males with eating disorders may present with a greater array of psychiatric comorbidities such as substance use and psychotic symptoms than females [7, 26]. Body image concerns, including weight perception, were significantly associated with an increased odds ratio for unhealthy weight control behaviors in males. Future research may examine other specific risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight or normal weight males, such as certain sports with weight cutoffs (like wrestling or rowing) [22, 27, 28], sexual orientation [29, 30], substance use, and other psychiatric comorbidity [7, 26].

Limitations of this study include the use of self-reported data at baseline (including height and weight) and follow-up, a method that may be subject to reporting bias. However, self-reported height and weight have been shown to be highly correlated with objectively measured height and weight (r=0.99; p<0.001) in community samples [31]. In addition, a seven-day timeframe was used for the recall of unhealthy weight control behaviors in Add Health, which is shorter than other measures of unhealthy weight control behaviors such as the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire which uses a timeframe of the past 28 days [32]. This may have underestimated the rate of unhealthy weight control behaviors compared to other measures. Strengths include the use of nationally-representative longitudinal data with seven-year follow-up in a large community sample size of adolescents followed into young adulthood.

Conclusion

Risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors differ based on sex and weight status, with family, school, and community factors most consistently associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight or normal weight females. Although some adverse childhood events and body image concerns were associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors in underweight or normal weight males and overweight or obese females, future research may better delineate risk factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors in overweight or obese adolescents and in males. Screening, prevention, and treatment interventions for unhealthy weight control behaviors in adolescents and young adults may need to be tailored based on sex and weight status to address these major public health challenges.

Supplementary Material

1

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Nicole Capdarest-Arest for help with literature searches.

Funding: J.M.N. is a fellow in the Pediatric Scientist Development Program (K12HD00085033), funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Pediatric Society, and was supported by the Norman Schlossberger Research Fund from the University of California, San Francisco. A.K.G. was supported by NIH 5R01HD082166-02. S.B.M was supported by K23 MH115184.

Footnotes

Financial Disclosure: The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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