Eating and weight concerns among Sikkimese adolescent girls and their biocultural correlates: an exploratory study

Abstract

Objectives: Growing concern about ideal body image among adolescent girls in developing countries has led them to follow dietary modifications. In general, the ideal body image is perceived as a 'thin body' and now tagged with the concept of being physically fit. The present study evaluates the prevalence of weight concerns, and subsequent eating behaviour modifications among a group of adolescent girls in Sikkim.

Design: Pre-tested FFQ and dietary behaviour questionnaire were canvassed through direct interviews. Anthropometric measurements were taken following standard techniques. In the present study, dieting stands for skipping meals or avoiding certain food items.

Setting: Sikkim, India.

Subjects: A total of 577 girls were selected from several blocks of all four districts of Sikkim.

Results: The results of the study show that concern with weight reduction is growing among adolescent girls, particularly among urban girls of affluent families. Girls from families with a higher economic status are about two times more likely to report dissatisfaction with their body weight (OR = 1·96; P ≤ 0·05) and these girls are five times more likely to report the need for dieting.

Conclusions: It is evident that weight concern and dissatisfaction over body weight are growing among adolescents. It can be safely argued that eating disorder, once a problem of the Western world, is now slowly creeping in among adolescents of the developing world as a consequence of rapid lifestyle changes over the past few decades.