The Contribution of School Environmental Factors to Individual and School Variation in Disordered Weight Control Behaviors in a Statewide Sample of Middle Schools

Abstract

We investigated the contribution of school environmental factors to individual and school variation in disordered weight control behaviors (DWCB). Analyses were based on self-report data gathered from 18,567 middle-school students in 2005 and publicly available data on school characteristics. We observed large differences across schools in percent of students engaging in DWCB in the past month, ranging from less than 1% of the student body to 12%. School-neighborhood poverty was associated with higher odds of DWCB in boys. Preventive strategies need to account for wide variability across schools and environmental factors that may contribute to DWCB in early adolescence.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ellen Feldberg Gordon Fund for Eating Disorders Research and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in collaboration with the International Nutrition Foundation, Inc. Partial funding for this project was also provided by Cooperative Agreement U58/CCU12282 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. S. B. Austin and T. K. Richmond are supported by the Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Project, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA grant 6T71-MC00009. The authors would like to thank Maria Bettencourt, Vanessa Cavallero, Christine Horan, Vivian Morris, Lauren Nichols, Christine Nordstrom, and Sylvia Stevens-Edouard for their contributions to the Massachusetts Healthy Choices Study, and the school staff and students who participated in the study.