Parental influences on the dieting beliefs and behaviors of adolescent females in New Zealand.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate parental influences on the weight perceptions and the dieting beliefs and behaviors of adolescent girls.


METHODS
The subjects were 232, 8th and 9th grade girls attending an urban New Zealand secondary school. Data on girls' perceptions of being thinner, beliefs about dieting, and their dieting behavior were obtained via a number of self-report scales.


RESULTS
An association was found between girls' perceptions of the impact of being thinner, dieting beliefs, dieting behaviors, and parental encouragements to diet (p < .0001). In general, parental dieting practices did not influence dieting beliefs except that fathers' dieting behavior was associated with some aspects of girls' dieting behaviors.


CONCLUSIONS
Parental encouragement to diet was associated with a wide range of weight loss behaviors, including the more extreme measures. In addition, having a father who dieted was associated with participation in a number of the dieting behaviors.
Education Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
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R
Dixon
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V
Adair
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O'Connor
D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires