Dieting behaviors of young women post-college graduation

College Student Journal, Dec, 2007 by LuAnn Soliah, Janelle Walter, Deeanna Antosh

The BMI was derived from dividing the subject's weight in kilograms by the subject's height in meters squared (kg/m2).20 A standardized BMI classification system for adult weight status has been developed and published as follows: underweight adults have a BMI less than l8.5, normal weight is 18.5-24.9, overweight is 25-29.9, mild obesity is 30-34.9, moderate obesity is 35-39.9, and severe obesity is >40.20

Pearson chi-square tests were calculated to evaluate the responses to the category variables (psychological affinity food score). Difference statistics were calculated for several variables concerning the women's food habits and smoking and drinking decisions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) or t-tests were run to determine if there were significant differences based on dieting patterns, eating habits, and smoking and drinking choices in relationship to the subjects weight and the psychological food score. The data reported in this article focuses on the relationships among dieting patterns, eating habits, and the psychological affinity for food.

Results

The sample included 344 young, college educated women. Respondents ranged in age from 20 to 39 years of age (mean = 27.7 years, with a standard deviation of 3.4).

Dieting Patterns

The frequency statistics from this study are presented in Table 1. The normal BMI is 18.5-24.9; the average woman in this study had a normal BMI of 23.5. However, there were both extreme low and high measurements in the sample. The range for Body Mass Index (BMI) was 15 to 45.8. These low and high measurements represent health concerns for both physical and psychological reasons. Furthermore, considering the youthful age of the subjects this was a disturbing finding. The average woman in this study wanted to weigh about 14 pounds less than she currently weighed. Even though this may not seem like a large amount of weight, it represented about 10% of total body weight for the "average" woman in the study.

Self-reported height, current weight, and desired weight were recorded on the surveys. Based on this information, actual and desired BMIs were calculated (see Table 2). It is interesting to note that 9% of the subjects wanted to be underweight, but the majority of the women (84%) wanted to be normal weight. The remainder of the women (7%) were in the moderate or severe obesity category, and they indicated they would be content to be overweight or mildly obese. None of the women wanted to be moderately or severely obese.

The subjects were asked whether or not they had ever dieted to lose weight and how old they were when they started their first diet. See Table 3. The majority of the women (66%) were not on a weight loss diet at the present time, but they had dieted (77%) previously. Most of the diets were short-term (0-6 months). In contrast, some of the participants were long-term dieters and they indicated that their longest diet had continued for one or more years. Among the women in this study, the average age of the first diet was 18 years with a standard deviation of 5.3 years. The range of ages for starting the first weight loss diet was 6 to 36 years.

The reasons for dieting to lose weight are presented in Table 4. The respondents were allowed to select more than one reason for beginning a diet. The main reason for dieting was to improve appearance and the reason cited least often was medical causes. It is noteworthy that several women indicated that they had dieted to improve their mental health, feared being overweight, and had recently participated in overeating.