Background

Youth may engage in healthy weight control behaviors (HWCBs) and unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCBs) to lose or maintain weight. Youth observation of WCBs by supporter groups (parents/siblings/peers) and youth beliefs about the safety of WCBs may impact which WCBs youth use. The primary aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of youth safety perceptions of WCBs on the relationships between supporter group engagement in WCBs and youth engagement in WCBs. Youth BMI-z-score was analyzed as a moderator.

Methods

Participants were 219 youth (52.1% females), ages 10–17, attending an outpatient medical appointment. Participants completed questionnaires about their WCB use, whether they perceived WCBs as safe/unsafe, and whether they perceived parents, siblings and peers to use WCBs. A standardized formula including youth age, sex, height, and weight was used to calculate BMI-z-score.

Results

A moderated mediation model examining parental and youth engagement in UWCBs revealed that for youth in the healthy to overweight/obese (OV/OB) range, greater safety perception of UWCBs mediated the relationship between higher parent engagement in UWCBs and higher youth engagement in UWCBs. Furthermore, youth safety perception of HWCBs mediated the relationship between perceived parent, sibling, and peer engagement in HWCBs and youth engagement in HWCBs.

Conclusion

This study identifies perceived parent, sibling, and peer WCBs and youth safety perceptions as mechanisms affecting youth WCB engagement, particularly for youth in the OV/OB range. Intervention effectiveness may increase if parent, sibling, and peer WCBs are targeted and education about safe/unsafe ways to control weight is provided.

中文翻译：

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青少年对体重控制行为的安全认知：主持的调解研究

背景

青少年可能会进行健康的体重控制行为（HWCB）和不健康的体重控制行为（UWCB）来减轻或保持体重。青少年对支持者团体（父母/兄弟姐妹/同伴）对WCB的观察以及青年对WCB安全性的信念可能会影响WCB青年使用的东西。这项研究的主要目的是检验WCB的青年安全观念在WCB的支持者团体参与与WCB的青年参与之间的关系。青年BMI-z得分作为主持人进行了分析。

方法

参加者为219位青年（52.1％的女性），年龄在10-17岁之间，接受门诊就诊。参与者完成了有关其使用WCB，是否认为WCB安全/不安全以及是否认为父母，兄弟姐妹和同伴使用WCB的问卷。使用包括青年年龄，性别，身高和体重的标准化公式来计算BMI-z得分。

结果

审查UWCB的父母和青年参与的调解模型显示，对于健康至超重/肥胖（OV / OB）范围内的年轻人，对UWCB的更高安全感介导了UWCB中较高的父母参与与UWCB中较高的青年参与之间的关系。此外，对HWCB的青年安全感介导了HWCB的知觉父母，兄弟姐妹和同伴参与与HWCB的青年参与之间的关系。

结论

这项研究确定了父母，兄弟姐妹和同伴的WCB以及青年安全感是影响青年WCB参与的机制，特别是对于OV / OB范围内的青年。如果以父母，兄弟姐妹和同伴的WCB为目标，并且提供有关控制体重的安全/不安全方法的教育，干预效果可能会提高。