Associations of Exposure to Weight Talk, Unhealthy Weight Control and Overeating in Early Teens (FS10-07-19)

Abstract

ObjectivesExamine the association between exposure to weight talk from same and opposite gender peers and overeating and unhealthy weight control (UWC) amongst racially/ethnically-diverse youth aged 11–16 using cross-sectional, observational data.Hypothesis 1: Increased exposure to weight talk from same and opposite gender peers will be associated with both overeating and UWC behaviors with variation in magnitude of relationship based on social source. MethodsIn Project Viva, 1023 early teens (ages 11–16) reported experiences of weight talk from multiple social sources (parents, siblings, same & different gender peers and teachers/coaches). The main exposure was weight talk, functioning as a proxy for a weight-centric environment, coded as low weight talk or high weight talk. At the same timepoint teens reported disordered eating (overeating and UWC behaviors). Ordinal logistic regression assessed the associations of weight talk with both disordered eating behaviors, controlling for known confounders. ResultsPreliminary results show that the odds of those exposed to high weight talk from peers of the same gender engaging in overeating or UWC behavior was 1.32 and 1.89 (95% CI,1.22 to 1.43; 95% CI, 1.06 to 3.37) times that of those exposed to low weight talk, both statistically significant effects, P < 0.001, P = 0.031. The odds of those exposed to high weight talk from opposite gender peers engaging in overeating was 2.43 (95% CI, 1.14 to 5.22) times that of those exposed to low weight talk, a statistically significant effect, P = 0.115. The odds of those exposed to high weight talk from opposite gender peers engaging in UWC behaviors was 1.69 (95% CI, 0.88 to 3.25) times that of those exposed to low weight talk, a non-statistically significant effect, P = 0.115. ConclusionsHigh weight talk from peers of the same gender is significantly associated with higher odds of both overeating UWC behaviors in early teens. However, high weight talk from peers of the opposite gender is only significantly associated with higher odds of overeating. Funding SourcesHC was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars Award. JM was supported by a NIH-NHLBI Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical Research. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs▪