The Gender and SES Context of Weight-Loss Dieting Among Adolescent Females

This study sought to establish whether differences in gender-based (coeducational versus single-sex school) and socioeconomic status-based (working-middle versus upper-middle class) contexts would be associated with differences in dieting status among female adolescents. A second goal was to determine whether those differences would be independent of body mass index (BMI). Girls attending four separate high schools completed the Dieting Status Measure (DiSM; Strong&Huon, 1997). They were also weighed and their height was measured. Although girls who said they had never dieted were equally distributed across coeducational and single-sex girls' schools, there were significantly fewer seriously committed dieters in single-sex schools. More of the never dieters attended upper-middle than working-middle class schools; the reverse was true for serious dieters (those who often or always diet). Body mass index was found to interact with those effects. Specifically, girls in the normal range were less likely to diet seriously if they attended a single-sex upper-middle class school. The findings of this study highlight the importance of specific aspects of the social context in which committed dieting appears to breed.