title: Weight misperception among young adults with overweight/obesity associated with disordered eating behaviors.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the cross-sectional association between weight misperception among young adults with overweight/obesity and disordered eating behaviors.
  
  
  
  In a subsample of young adults with overweight or obesity participating in Wave III (2001-2002) of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 5,184), we examined the cross-sectional association between weight under-perception (i.e., perceiving oneself to be at a healthy body weight or underweight) and disordered eating (fasting/meal skipping for weight control, purging/pills for weight control, overeating/loss of control eating, and use of performance-enhancing products/substances).
  
  
  
  About 20% of young adult females under-perceived their weight compared to 48% of males. Individuals who misperceived their weight as healthy were significantly less likely to report fasting/meal skipping (Females: OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.14-0.43; Males: OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.20-0.48) and vomiting or taking diet pills/laxatives/diuretics (Females: OR: 0.10, 95% CI: 0.04-0.25; Males: OR: 0.10, 95% CI: 0.04-0.25) for weight control. Among females, those who misperceived their weight status as healthy were also less likely to report overeating or loss of control eating (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.24-0.71). Greater use of performance-enhancing products/substances was seen among males who under-perceived their weight as healthy (OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.57-2.72) and among both females (OR: 2.29, 95% CI: 1.40-20.0) and males (OR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.13-4.55) who perceived themselves to be underweight.
  
  
  
  Weight under-perception among young adults with overweight/obesity may convey some benefit related to disordered eating behaviors, but could be a risk factor for the use of performance-enhancing products/substances. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord ; 49:937-946).
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Michigan. kendrins@umich.edu.|Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. kendrins@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Kendrin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Sonneville
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Idia B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Thurston
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Carly E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Milliren
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Holly C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Gooding
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Tracy K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Richmond
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D001835:Body Weight; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: disordered eating; eating disorders; obesity; overweight; weight misperception; weight perception