A Study on Weight Control, Nutritional Knowledge, Dietary Attitudes and Eating Behaviors among High School Female Students

Ahn, Yun; Kim, Hyungmee; Kim, Kyungwon

Abstract

This study was designed to examine weight control, nutritional knowledge, dietary attitudes and eating behaviors of 370 high school girls and to investigate if there were differences in these variables by weight control status. The weight control attempters (65.1%) had significantly higher body weight and BMI (p<0.001). The difference between desired and current body weight was -9.1 kg in the attempters, showing a significantly higher difference than the counterparts (p<0.001). The attempters also showed more interest toward weight control (p<0.001), but were less satisfied with their body size (p<0.001). Most of subjects (88.1%), especially in the attempters (96.7%) responded that they would try to control their weights in the future. The regular exerciser was 22.9% in the attempters while the percentage of the counterparts was 11.9% (p<0.05). The use of internet or television watching was not significantly different by weight control status. Subjects scored 15.8 out of 20 on a nutritional knowledge scale, which showed a moderate level of knowledge. The nutritional knowledge score was 15.7 for the attempters and 15.8 for the counterparts. None of the nutritional knowledge items reached statistical significance, although the percentages of correct answers regarding weight control or balanced meals were slightly lower in the attempters. The attempters showed more favorable eating attitudes than the counterparts (p<0.001), especially in the attitudes of applying nutritional knowledge to daily life (p<0.01), attitudes for modifying diets (p<0.01) and importance of having adequate meals (p<0.01). The eating behavior was moderate, with mean scores of 31.1 (possible score: 15-45). Subjects showed problems in eating a variety of foods, eating meals regularly, eating slowly, eating breakfast and consumption of some food groups (e.g., dairy foods, fruits). The attempters consumed seaweeds more frequently than the counterparts (p<0.05). Although there were not many significant differences by weight control status, this study suggested that nutrition education for adolescent girls should be planned to provide nutrition information regarding desirable weight control as well as modifying diets and eating behaviors.