Magazines Encourage Unhealthy Dieting in Teens
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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 6/4/2008 2:00:00 PM
What’s one thing you shouldn’t tell an overweight teenage girl? To get dieting advice from a magazine.
In fact, frequent reading of magazine articles about weight loss and weight control can result in unhealthy behavior such as skipping meals, fasting, and smoking cigarettes, says a new study published in the June issue of Pediatrics.
The odds of engaging in unhealthy weigh control behaviors are twice as high for more frequent readers compared to those who did not read magazines, says the study. “The odds of using extreme weight-control behaviors (such as vomiting or using laxatives) were three times higher in the highest frequency readers compared to those who did not read such magazines,” adds the study, “Is Dieting Advice From Magazines Helpful or Harmful?” by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
In contrast, when it came to teenage boys, there were “no significant associations” with reading these magazine articles and weight control behaviors.
Unhealthy dieting and eating disorders are significant problems for teens, especially adolescent girls. For example, in the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, one in 10 of the 15,240 high school kids surveyed (11 percent of girls and 7 percent of boys) said they took diet pills, powders, or liquids in the previous 30 days. Meanwhile, 13 percent of students (14 percent of girls and nine percent of boys) reported fasting for more than 24 hours to lose or maintain their weight. And some six percent (eight percent of girls and four percent of boys) reported vomiting or taking laxatives for the same reason.
What does this all mean for parents and educator? “[There is] a need for interventions aimed at reducing exposure to, and the importance placed on, media messages regarding dieting and weight loss,” say the report, a five-year longitudinal study of 2,516 middle and high school students nationwide.
