Chronic dieting and the belief that smoking controls body weight in a biracial, population-based adolescent sample.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of weight concerns and smoking for body weight reasons as a function of race and gender.


METHODS
A questionnaire measuring a number of factors thought to be predictive of smoking was administered.


METHODS
The Memphis (Tennessee) school system.


METHODS
Participants were 6961 seventh-grade students (mean age 13 years). This population consisted of 80.8% black children, 16.5% white children, and 2.7% of other ethnic origins.


METHODS
Weight concerns were assessed using items from a restraint scale. Students were questioned regarding their smoking status, beliefs that smoking controls body weight, and their own weight-control smoking behaviour.


RESULTS
Dietary restraint interacted with race in that, whereas white girls scored the highest on dietary restraint, black boys scored higher on dietary restraint than white boys. Almost 40% of subjects at this school level believed that smoking controls their body weight. Of the regular smokers, 12% indicated they have smoked to control their weight, with white girls endorsing this belief significantly more than other respondents.


CONCLUSIONS
The propensity to smoke for weight control reasons, previously described by other researchers among white females of college and high-school age, was also found among this sample of students of junior high school age.
Klesges
R C
RC
University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA. bklesges@cc.memphis.edu
Elliott
V E
VE
Robinson
L A
LA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking; D015431:Weight Loss