NCJ Number
216653
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 969-975
Date Published
December 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined the frequency of health-care providers' discussion of health-related behaviors with 252 overweight and normal-weight urban adolescents; and it identified demographic factors and behaviors related to exercise, hours of television viewing, and weight issues involved in these discussions.
Abstract
Just over half of the health-care providers discussed weight and exercise with the adolescents, but only 15 percent discussed reducing the amount of television viewing time. Since reducing television viewing is a critical population-based approach to preventing childhood obesity, discussions on reducing the hours of television viewing should also be addressed during medical visits. Discussions with adolescents about exercise were more common for overweight adolescent patients and those at risk for being overweight. Discussions of weight were significantly associated with being female, African-American, a younger age, and having greater than normal weight. This cross-sectional survey was conducted by trained interviewers over a 3-month period in 2001 at an urban academic pediatric and adolescent clinic. The 252 adolescents surveyed had a mean age of 15, with 49 percent judged to be overweight or at risk of being overweight. The survey collected information on demographics, discussions with health-care providers, nutrition behaviors and attitudes, physical activity, perception of body image, weight perceptions, and smoking. 3 tables and 32 references