These adolescents experienced unfavorable shifts in activity patterns, such as longitudinal decreases in moderate to vigorous physical activity, coupled with longitudinal and secular increases in leisure-time computer use. Developing effective health promotion strategies that address a wide array of changing behavioral patterns will be important in promoting long-term health and active lifestyles among adolescents and young adults.
Background
Weight stigma is common for people with obesity and harmful to health. Links between obesity and complications from COVID−19 have been identified, but it is unknown whether weight stigma poses adverse health implications during this pandemic.
Purpose
We examined longitudinal associations between prepandemic experiences of weight stigma and eating behaviors, psychological distress, and physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic in a diverse sample of emerging adults.
Methods
Participants (N = 584, 64% female, mean age = 24.6 ± 2.0 years, mean body mass index [BMI] = 28.2) in the COVID-19 Eating and Activity over Time (C-EAT) study were cohort members of the population-based longitudinal study EAT 2010–2018. Weight stigma reported by participants in 2018 was examined as a predictor of binge eating, eating to cope, physical activity, depressive symptoms, and stress during COVID-19. Data were collected via online surveys during the U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
Results
Prepandemic experiences of weight stigma predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms (β = 0.15, p < .001), stress (β = 0.15, p = .001), eating as a coping strategy (β = 0.16, p < .001), and an increased likelihood of binge eating (odds ratio = 2.88, p < .001) among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic but were unrelated to physical activity. Although associations remained after accounting for demographic characteristics and BMI, the magnitude of longitudinal associations was attenuated after adjusting for prior levels of the outcome variables.
Conclusions
Young adults who have experienced weight stigma may have increased vulnerability to distress and maladaptive eating during this pandemic. Public health messaging could be improved to support people of diverse body sizes and reduce the harmful consequences of weight stigma.
Purpose
To examine longitudinal risk factors and short-term risk correlates for the development of extreme forms of restrictive eating among adolescent dieters.
Methods
Data from Project EAT, a population-based study of 2,516 students aged 12-18, were collected in 1998-1999 (Time 1) and 5 years later (Time 2). Within this sample, 243 adolescents who reported dieting but not engaging in disordered forms of restrictive eating (e.g., fasting, skipping meals) at Time 1 were followed to determine the self-reported psychological, familial, and social variables predicting initiation of disordered restrictive eating at Time 2. To investigate short-term risk correlates of initiating disordered restrictive eating, the same risk factors were also compared cross-sectionally at Time 2 between the dieters who had and had not initiated disordered restrictive eating. Poisson regression models with robust standard errors were fit for each predictor adjusted for covariates.
Results
Depressive symptoms and low self-esteem were significantly associated with the initiation of disordered restrictive eating in both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. Poor family communication/caring and maternal dieting significantly predicted long-term risk for escalating restrictive eating severity; whereas, individual body image issues (i.e., weight concerns, body dissatisfaction) and social concerns (i.e., weight-related teasing, peer dieting) were significant short-term correlates of initiating disordered restrictive eating.
Conclusions
Depressive symptoms and low self-esteem may be especially important targets for risk identification and prevention for disordered restrictive eating. Intervening upon family influences may decrease long-term risk, while intervening upon body image and responses to social influences may decrease short-term risk for disordered restrictive eating.
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