EATING ATTITUDES AND THE BODY-MASS INDEX OF AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLCHILDRENAGED 8 TO 12 YEARS

Children from upper primary grades of three Sydney schools (n = 244), aged from 8 to 12 years, completed the children's version of the Eatin g Attitudes Test (ChEAT) (Maloney et al., 1988), reported whether they had ever desired to be thinner and had ever tried to lose weight, and had their heights and weights measured. Results were consistent With recent Swedish, U.S.A. and Israeli findings that concerns about being overweight are prevalent among pre-adolescent children, particularly a mong girls. The majority of overweight children reported that they hav e wished to be thinner, and many have actively sought to lose weight. Of females classified as underweight, 26 per cent have wanted to be th inner and 62 per cent of these had tried to lose weight at some time. Only six females were classified as very underweight, but three said t hat they had wanted to be thinner and two that they had actively tried to lose weight. Results offer some support for the value of the ChEAT as a screening test but its validity with very young children is ques tionable. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Associa tion.