MCMURRAY, ROBERT G., JOANNE S. HARRELL, SHIBING DENG, CHYRISE B. BRADLEY, LORI M. COX, AND SHRIKANT I. BANGDIWALA. The influence of physical activity, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity on the weight status of adolescents. Obes Res. 2000;8: 130 -139. Objective: This study examined the effects of physical activity, television viewing, video game play, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity on body mass index (BMI). Research Methods and Procedures:The sample was 2389 adolescents, 10 to 16 years of age (12.7 Ϯ 1.0 years); 1240 (52%) females and 1149 (48%) males; 77% white and 23% African American; from rural (77%) and urban (23%) settings. BMI and skinfolds were directly assessed. All other data were obtained from questionnaires. Results: Watching television on non-school days was related to being overweight (p Ͻ 0.005). However, when BMI analyses were adjusted for ethnicity and SES, there were no significant effects of television viewing on BMI (p Ͼ 0.061). Increased hours of video game play enhanced the risk of being overweight for both genders when analyses were adjusted for ethnicity and SES (p Ͻ 0.019). In males, participation in as little as one high-intensity physical activity 3 to 5 days a week decreased the ethnic-and SESadjusted relative risk of being overweight (RR ϭ 0.646; CI: 0.427 to 0.977). For females, the ethnic-and SES-adjusted relative risk for being overweight was not significantly altered by physical activity. The logistic analyses further indicated the influence of low SES and African American ethnicity overshadowed any direct effect of television or videos.

Early identification of potentially harmful eating patterns is critical in the effective remediation of such behaviors. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the degree lo which various factors including gender, family history, and athletic status predict disordered eating behavior; social physique anxiety and percent body fat were added as potential predictor variables. The eating behaviors of student-athletes and nonathlete students were also compared. One hundred eighty undergraduate students (males = 49, females =131) provided demographic information and completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS). Stepwise multiple-regression analysis indicated that social physique anxiety, gender, and body fat (%Fat) combined to predict 34% of disordered eating behaviors: EAT = 0.921 SPA - 1.05 %Fat + 10.95 Gender (1 = M. 2 = F) - 17.82 (R2 = .34, SE = 4.68). A one-way ANOVA comparing ihe eating behaviors of athletes and nonathletes revealed no significant difference between these groups.