Dieting Linked to Risky Behavior
Adolescents who dieted were significantly more likely to engage in risky health behaviors and to demonstrate psychosocial symptoms, compared with teens who did not diet, reported Dr. Scott Crow and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Overall, 55% of the girls and 26% of the boys in a study of 4,746 adolescents reported dieting. Approximately 32% of the adolescents were actually overweight, and these subjects were 1.5 to 3 times more likely to report dieting, extreme weight control behaviors, and body dissatisfaction than were normal-weight adolescents (J. Adolesc. Health 2006;38:569–74).
Girls who were dieting, regardless of weight status, were significantly more likely than nondieting girls to exhibit extreme weight control behaviors, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and depressive symptoms, and were significantly more likely to use alcohol, marijuana, or tobacco. Similarly, boys who were dieting, regardless of weight status, were significantly more likely than nondieting boys to exhibit extreme weight control behaviors, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and depressive symptoms, and significantly more likely to use alcohol or tobacco. Marijuana use was more common among the nondieting boys.
The findings suggest that the psychosocial and behavioral risks associated with dieting may outweigh the possible benefits of weight loss, especially since the increased likelihood of risky health behaviors and depressive symptoms was not limited by weight status, the researchers said.
Friends Inspire Smoking Initiation
A close friend's smoking habits were 12% more influential than parents' habits in an adolescent's first transition to smoking, reported Jonathan B. Bricker, Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, and his colleagues.
According to data from 4,744 adolescents involved in the Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project, there were no significant differences in the influence of parents vs. friends on a second smoking transition, the investigators said (Addictive Behaviors 2006;31:889–900).
By contrast, each close friend's smoking was 16% less influential than a parent's smoking on adolescents' transition to a third level of smoking. Transitions through levels of smoking, such as a transition from monthly to daily smoking, may take months or years to occur, the researchers noted.
Overall, the probability that a close friend who smoked had inspired the adolescent's smoking behavior was 38% for a first transition, 10% for a second transition, and 11% for a third transition. The probability that a parent who smoked had inspired the adolescent's smoking behavior was 26% for a first transition, 13% for a second transition, and 27% for a third transition.
The researchers also analyzed random saliva samples from 12.6% of 12th graders' saliva specimens, and only 1.2% of adolescents who said that they did not smoke had saliva samples with evidence of smoking.
Depression May Be Catching
Depression in a best friend was significantly associated with the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents under conditions of social anxiety, Mitchell Prinstein, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
Peer relationships during adolescence are characterized by high levels of emotional disclosure and intimacy. Adolescents often use feedback from peers, and their perceived standing among peers is a primary source of their own identity, said Dr. Prinstein of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Prinstein and his colleagues studied 100 community-dwelling adolescents, each of whom chose a friend who was also in the data set. No friend was allowed to be selected more than once. The mean age was 16 years at baseline, and 60% were female.
Overall, among girls, a best friend's depression as reported by that friend was associated with depression in the primary adolescent under conditions of social anxiety. Among boys, a lesser level of friendship intimacy was associated with a greater level of association between a best friend's depression and the development of depressive symptoms in the primary adolescent. Among both girls and boys, the higher the level of the best friend's popularity, as rated by peers, the stronger the association between depression in that best friend and the development of depressive symptoms in the primary adolescent.
“Interventions should not seek to detach teens from relationships, but [should] work to influence adolescent resilience by moderating factors such as anxiety,” Dr. Prinstein said. “Getting adolescents to change who their friends are is generally unsuccessful.”