title: Relationship among females' weight status and beliefs about diet and health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess reliability/validity of psychosocial surveys and explore health beliefs across weight status in female freshmen.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (N = 259) completed Weight Efficacy Lifestyle Questionnaire and Eating Among Teens-II survey; results evaluated by weight status (Cronbach α; principal components analysis; Mann-Whitney U).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor structures generally differed by weight group but "trigger situations" and "social pressure" were consistent. For comparable constructs with Cronbach α ≥ .70, scores were neutral or slightly positive for self-efficacy, emotional eating, and social pressure. Scores did not differ between weight groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surveys demonstrated reliability but could benefit from further development to accurately evaluate psychosocial variables by weight status.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois Extension, Urbana, IL, USA. lweston2@illinois.edu
authors.forename: Leia E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Kedem
authors.forename: Ellen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chapman-Novakofski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014495:Universities; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult