Adolescent Snacking Behaviors Are Associated with Dietary Intake and Weight Status.

Background: Most adolescents consume ≥1 snack/d; exploring the relevance of snacking patterns for overall diet and weight status is important to guide dietary counseling and public health strategies for obesity prevention.

Objective: This study examined intake of common energy-dense snack foods, total number of snacks consumed, frequency of consuming snacks prepared away from home, and frequency of snacking while watching television in adolescents and how these behaviors may be linked to diet and weight status. Relations were examined with attention to potential confounders that may help explain the mixed findings of previous research.

Self-Weighing Throughout Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Implications for Well-Being.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of self-weighing in the transition period from adolescence to young adulthood and examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-weighing and weight status, psychological, and behavioral outcomes.

Design: Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults, a longitudinal cohort study that assessed variables 3 times over 10 years.

Participants: A total of 1,868 adolescents and young adults.

Millennials at work: workplace environments of young adults and associations with weight-related health.

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the workplace environments of young adults and examine associations with diet, physical activity (PA) and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected (2008-2009) from 1538 employed young adult participants in Project EAT (Eating and Activity among Teens and Young Adults), a diverse population-based sample. Survey measures assessed height, weight, diet, moderate-to-vigorous PA, transportation-related PA and perceptions of the workplace food and PA environments (eg, soda availability, coworker support).

The Associations of Eating-related Attitudinal Balance with Psychological Well-being and Eating Behaviors.

This study used balance theory to illuminate the relations of eating-related attitudinal consistency between self and friends to psychological well-being and eating behaviors. It was hypothesized that attitudinal inconsistency, relative to consistency, would predict lower well-being and poorer eating habits. A population-based sample of 2287 young adults participating in Project EAT-III (Eating Among Teens and Young Adults) completed measures of psychological well-being, eating behaviors, and eating-related attitudes from the standpoint of self and friends.

New moves-preventing weight-related problems in adolescent girls a group-randomized study.

Background: Weight-related problems are prevalent in adolescent girls.

Purpose: To evaluate New Moves, a school-based program aimed at preventing weight-related problems in adolescent girls.

Design: School-based group-randomized controlled design.

Providing calorie information on fast-food restaurant menu boards: consumer views.

Purpose: To gather consumer input about approaches to providing energy composition information for foods on fast-food restaurant menus.

Design: We asked a subset of individuals (n = 150) in an experimental study about the influence of nutrition labeling on fast-food meal choices to evaluate calorie information on mock fast-food menus in various formats.

Setting: Three community sites in the Minneapolis-St.

Longitudinal and secular trends in adolescent whole-grain consumption, 1999-2004.

Background: The replacement of refined grains in the diet with whole grains may help prevent chronic disease and excess weight gain, but intakes in adolescents are often lower than recommended.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine demographic disparities and 5-y longitudinal and secular trends (1999-2004) in whole-grain intake among 2 cohorts of Minnesota adolescents.

Design: Whole-grain intake was examined among 996 adolescent males and 1222 adolescent females who were Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) participants in 1999 and 2004.

Teasing, disordered eating behaviors, and psychological morbidities among overweight adolescents.

Objective: To assess whether weight-related teasing is associated with weight control behaviors, disordered eating thoughts and behaviors, and psychological comorbidities in overweight adolescents.

Methods And Procedures: A sample of 46 male and 84 female adolescents completed a survey assessing teasing frequency, sources of teasing (peers and family), weight control behaviors, disordered eating thoughts and behaviors, depression, anxiety, anger, and self-esteem.

Results: Frequent teasing by both family and peers was associated with greater disordered eating thoughts and behaviors, depression, anxiety, anger, and decreased self-esteem.

Fast food intake: longitudinal trends during the transition to young adulthood and correlates of intake.

Purpose: Frequent fast food intake is associated with poorer diet quality and greater weight gain. The aims of this study were to describe changes in fast food intake during the transition from middle adolescence to young adulthood, and to identify baseline correlates of this eating behavior in early young adulthood.

Methods: Data were drawn from Project EAT, a population-based, longitudinal study in Minnesota.

Fruit and vegetable intake correlates during the transition to young adulthood.

Background: During the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, the intake of fruit and vegetables tends to decline, and national survey data indicate that few young adults consume the recommended amounts. This study aimed to identify longitudinal correlates of follow-up fruit and vegetable intake in early young adulthood.

Methods: Surveys and food frequency questionnaires were completed by 1495 adolescent participants in high school classrooms at baseline (in 1998-1999; mean age=15.

Shared risk and protective factors for overweight and disordered eating in adolescents.

Background: Weight-related problems, including obesity, eating disorders, and disordered eating, are major public health problems in adolescents. The identification of shared risk and protective factors for these problems can guide the development of relevant interventions to a broad spectrum of weight-related problems. This paper examines the prevalence and co-occurrence of overweight, binge eating, and extreme weight-control behaviors (vomiting, diet pills, laxatives, and diuretics) in adolescents and identifies shared risk and protective factors from within the socioenvironmental, personal, and behavioral domains for these three adverse weight-related outcomes.

Structured physical activity and psychosocial correlates in middle-school girls.

Objective: Little is known about the types of physical activity (PA) in which adolescent girls participate. Understanding this, along with examining specific psychosocial correlates of PA, may help guide the development of effective interventions to prevent the decline in PA in female youth.

Methods: 2791 sixth grade girls participating in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls from six geographical locations completed surveys assessing participation in sports teams and activity classes/lessons in and out of school, self-efficacy for PA, PA enjoyment, physical education (PE) enjoyment, and perceived school climate for girls' PA (data collection: January-May 2003).