RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Chronic dieting and the belief that smoking controls body weight in a biracial, population-based adolescent sample.
JF Tobacco Control
JO Tob Control
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 89
OP 94
DO 10.1136/tc.6.2.89
VO 6
IS 2
A1 R C Klesges
A1 V E Elliott
A1 L A Robinson
YR 1997
UL http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/6/2/89.abstract
AB OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of weight concerns and smoking for body weight reasons as a function of race and gender. DESIGN: A questionnaire measuring a number of factors thought to be predictive of smoking was administered. SETTING: The Memphis (Tennessee) school system. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 6961 seventh-grade students (mean age 13 years). This population consisted of 80.8% black children, 16.5% white children, and 2.7% of other ethnic origins. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Weight concerns were assessed using items from a restraint scale. Students were questioned regarding their smoking status, beliefs that smoking controls body weight, and their own weight-control smoking behaviour. RESULTS: Dietary restraint interacted with race in that, whereas white girls scored the highest on dietary restraint, black boys scored higher on dietary restraint than white boys. Almost 40% of subjects at this school level believed that smoking controls their body weight. Of the regular smokers, 12% indicated they have smoked to control their weight, with white girls endorsing this belief significantly more than other respondents. CONCLUSIONS: The propensity to smoke for weight control reasons, previously described by other researchers among white females of college and high-school age, was also found among this sample of students of junior high school age.