title: Body weight dissatisfaction and communication with parents among adolescents in 24 countries: international cross-sectional survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parents have significant influence on behaviors and perceptions surrounding eating, body image and weight in adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of body weight dissatisfaction, difficulty in communication with the parents and the relationship between communication with parents and adolescents' dissatisfaction with their body weight (dieting or perceived need to diet).
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey data were collected from adolescents in 24 countries and regions in Europe, Canada, and the USA who participated in the cross-sectional 2001/2002 Health Behaviour of School-Aged Children (HBSC) study. The association between communication with parents and body weight dissatisfaction was examined using binary logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Body weight dissatisfaction was highly prevalent and more common among girls than boys, among overweight than non-overweight, and among older adolescents than younger adolescents. Difficulty in talking to father was more common than difficulty in talking to mother in all countries and it was greater among girls than among boys and increased with age. Difficulties in talking to father were associated with weight dissatisfaction among both boys and girls in most countries. Difficulties in talking to mother were rarely associated with body weight dissatisfaction among boys while among girls this association was found in most countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that enhanced parent communication might contribute in most countries to less body dissatisfaction in girls and better communication with the father can help avoiding body weight dissatisfaction in boys. Professionals working with adolescents and their families should help adolescents to have a healthy weight and positive body image and promote effective parent-adolescent communication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. halimah.alsabbah@ugent.be
authors.forename: Haleama
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al Sabbah
authors.forename: Carine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Vereecken
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Elgar
authors.forename: Tonja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nansel
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aasvee
authors.forename: Ziad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abdeen
authors.forename: Kristiina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ojala
authors.forename: Namanjeet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahluwalia
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States