Smoking and weight control behaviors.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between weight control and tobacco use in young women.


METHODS
Smoking status and weight and eating related issues, endorsement of the belief "smoking helps to control weight" dieting status (DEBQ-R), current and ideal weight and current height were assessed in 144 students.


RESULTS
Smoker (S) restrained eaters (RE) scored higher on dietary restraint than nonsmoker (NS) RE. In the smoking questionnaire, S-RE selected a significantly higher number of items concerning hunger, eating and weight than S unrestrained eaters (URE). S-RE had a greater level of endorsement of the belief: "smoking helps to control weight" than NS-URE. The subjects who marked those items had significantly higher scores in the DEBQ-R and were more likely to be RE than those who marked none of them.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that among young women who smoke and diet there might be a risk group that smokes as a weight control strategy.
Facchini
M
M
Instituto Psicosomático, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. mfacchini@movi.com.ar
Rozensztejn
R
R
González
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires