Weight and shape concerns and dieting behaviours among pre-adolescents andadolescents in Japan

The attitudes towards body weight and shape, desire for thinness and dietin g behaviours were investigated in pre-adolescent and adolescent girls and b oys (547 elementary school students, 615 junior high school students, and 4 70 senior high school students) aged 10-17 years in Osaka Prefecture, Japan , by a self-report questionnaire. Forty-eight per cent of 10-year-old females and 84% of 17-year-old females categorized themselves as'fat' or 'too fat'. The fear of weight gain and de sire for thinness was reported in 35% and 51% of 10-year-old girls, respect ively, and increased progressively with ageing to 79% and 87% of 17-year-ol d girls. In contrast, these were reported by 20-30% of boys in the correspo nding age groups. Some practices to be slim were found in 22% of the 10-yea r-old girls, and increased to 37% among the 17-year-old girls, whereas they were found in around 20% of the boys at each age. The practices to be slim were found in 32% of the girls who were 85-90% of the standard body weight (SBW) and in 14% of the girls less than 85% of the SEW. These results sugg est that significant concerns about weight and shape and dieting behaviours are present in young Japanese girls and increase progressively with age. T hese results are compatible with those in Western society.