Body dissatisfaction, weight loss behaviours, and bulimic tendencies in Australian adolescents with an estimate of female data representativeness

Abstract

Body image, weight loss behaviours, and bulimic tendencies were assessed using questionnaires on 606 female and 315 male Victorian high-school students. In addition the representativeness of the sample was investigated. Nearly half the girls, and 28% of boys reported using an extreme weight loss method at least occasionally. Females indicated greater body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, but not bulimic tendencies, than males. Weight loss behaviours and eating attitudes in this Australian sample appeared similar to comparable North American samples. Females refusing to be weighed rated their current figure as larger and indicated more body dissatisfaction than the weighed females, and teacher ratings of a sub-sample of females (n = 334) suggested that female nonparticipants were heavier than those who completed the study. Implications of these findings are discussed.