ATTITUDES TO FOOD, EATING AND DIETING BEHAVIOR IN 11 AND 14-YEAR-OLD SWEDISH CHILDREN

All students in grades 5 and 8 of three randomly chosen schools in Upp sala (n = 236) were eligible, and 197 participated. The survey include d a Swedish version of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) an d a demographic and dieting questionnaire. In total, 47% of the childr en (girls 70%, boys 25%) wanted to be thinner and 25% had tried to los e weight. In the 5th grade, 49% of the girls reported that they wanted to be thinner and in the 8th grade 83%. Fifty-three percent of the gi rls in the 8th grade reported that they had tried to lose weight; 36% admitted that they felt too fat but only 5% reported that other people found them too fat. The methods used were caloric restriction and exe rcise. Compared with US data, the Swedish students dieted less often a nd showed lower ChEAT scores. Compared with earlier data, our results show that weight concerns begin at an earlier age among Swedish childr en today.