New research has determined that constantly getting on a scale may be a sign of other more serious underlying problems for adolescents.
In a newly-released study, researchers have found that adolescents who are constantly weighing themselves have more issues and problems with self esteem, depression, and body issues. The research concluded that it was a far more prevalent issue for teen girls than for teen boys.
The research was performed by a team of nutritional experts from the University of Minnesota and followed 1,868 adolescent boys and girls in the Midwest through a 10-year span, reports The Huffington Post. The research was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. The basics of the research suggests that teens who are constantly weighing themselves will develop more body and health issues than those who don’t.
The teens were asked how often they weighed themselves as well as a plethora of other questions designed to get a handle on their body issues and images of themselves and their self esteem. The researchers said that they found that girls who weighed themselves often perceived themselves as having body weight issues. The study followed the children from middle school through their late teens.
The researchers said that there is a fine balancing act to be done with regard to how tweens and teens approach their bodies and their health. While the research team stated that adolescent obesity has become a great national concern, weighing in frequently can also be the beginning signs of an eating disorder or even depression. Despite popular belief and marketing, there is no research that can link frequent weigh-ins with actual weight loss.
The researchers suggest that parents and friends can help to play an important part in the discovery of some early symptoms. They suggest that if an adolescent boy or girl seems obsessed over weighing themselves that it is highly likely that there are other things going on beneath the surface. There is a collected body of current research that is suggesting that an obsession with weighing can definitely lead to some poor health and psychological problems and that girls and women are most especially at risk.
