The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy for Behaviors That Promote Healthy Weight and Clinical Indicators of Adiposity in a Sample of Early Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: Examine the relationship between self-efficacy and various measures of adiposity in a sample of teens. Methods: A total of 132 teens were selected from schools participating in an existing research study titled Teen Eating and Activity Mentoring in Schools (TEAMS). Teens completed demographic questionnaires and healthy eating–specific and physical activity–specific measures of self-efficacy. Waist circumference (WC), triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), and body mass index (BMI) percentile scores were also obtained. Results: Regression analyses indicated that healthy eating–specific and physical activity–specific measures of self-efficacy predicted WC and TSF. ANOVA revealed significant differences in healthy eating–specific self-efficacy levels between students of recommended weight and overweight/obese status. Supplemental analyses showed significant negative relationships between a student’s ideal BMI ratio and self-efficacy. Conclusions: Because self-efficacy may be amenable to change, these findings could inform future efforts aimed at increasing behaviors that promote healthy weight status among early adolescents.

Keywords

obesity health behavior weight management

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bandura

(1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.

Bandura

(1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, 122-147.

Bandura

(2006). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. In Urdan

Pajares

(Eds.), Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents (pp. 307-337). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Bock

B. C.

Marcus

B. H.

Pinto

B. M.

(2001). Maintenance of physical activity following an individualized motivationally tailored intervention. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 79-87.

Cox

K. L.

Burke

Gorely

T. J.

Beilin

L. J.

Puddey

I. B.

(2003). Controlled comparison of retention and adherence in home- vs. center-initiated exercise interventions in women ages 40-65 years: The S.W.E.A.T. Study (Sedentary Women Exercise Adherence Trial). Preventive Medicine, 36, 17-29.

Dallow

Anderson

(2003). Using self-efficacy and a transtheoretical model to develop a physical activity intervention for obese women. American Journal of Health Promotion, 17, 373-381.

Durnin

J. V. G. A.

Womersley

(1974). Body fat assessed from total body density and its estimation from skinfold thickness: Measurements on 481 men and women 16 to 72 years. British Journal of Nutrition, 32, 77-97.

Faul

Erdfelder

(1992). GPOWER: A priori, post-hoc, and compromise power analysis for MS-DOS [Computer program]. Bonn, Germany: Department of Psychology, Bonn University.

Flynn

M. A.

McNeil

D. A.

Maloff

Mutasingwa

Ford

Tough

S. C.

(2006). Reducing obesity and related chronic disease risk in children and youth: A synthesis of evidence with “best practice” recommendations. Obesity Reviews, 7(Suppl. 1), 7-66.

10.

Franks

P. W.

Hanson

R. L.

Knowler

W. C.

Moffett

Enos

Infante

A. M.

Looker

H. C.

(2007). Childhood predictors of young-onset type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 56, 2964-2972.

11.

Fulkerson

J. A.

French

S. A.

Story

Hannan

P. J.

Neumark-Sztainer

Himes

J. H.

(2004). Weight-bearing physical activity among girls and mothers: Relationships to girls’ weight status. Obesity Research, 12, 258-266.

12.

Goran

M. I.

Ball

G. D. C.

Cruz

M. L.

(2003). Obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 88, 1417-1427.

13.

Hannon

T. S.

Goutham

Arslanian

S. A.

(2005). Childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pediatrics, 116, 473-480.

14.

Hollingshead

A. B.

(1975). Four factor index of social status. New Haven, CT: Yale University.

15.

Kelder

S. H.

Perry

C. L.

Klepp

K. I.

Lytle

L. L.

(1994). Longitudinal tracking of adolescent smoking, physical activity, and food choice behaviors. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 1121-1126.

16.

Kuczmarski

R. J.

Ogden

C. L.

Grummer-Strawn

L. M.

Flegal

K. M.

Guo

S. S.

Wei

Johnson

C. L.

(2000). CDC growth charts: United States advance data from vital and health statistics; no. 314. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

17.

McAuley

Bane

S. M.

Mihalko

S. L.

(1995). Exercise in middle-aged adults: Self-efficacy and self-presentational outcomes. Preventive Medicine, 24, 319-328.

18.

Motl

R. W.

Dishman

R. K.

Trost

S. G.

Saunders

R. P.

Dowda

Felton

Pate

R. R.

(2000). Factorial validity and invariance of questionnaires measuring social cognitive determinants of physical activity among adolescent girls. Preventive Medicine, 31, 584-594.

19.

Nakao

Treas

(1992). The 1989 Socioeconomic Index of Occupations: Construction from the 1989 Occupational Prestige scores (General Social Survey Methodological Report No. 74). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center.

20.

Nigg

C. R.

Courneya

K. S.

Estabrooks

P. A.

(1997). Maintaining attendance at a fitness center: An application of the decision balance sheet. Behavioral Medicine, 23, 130-137.

21.

O’Dea

J. A.

Wilson

R. W.

(2006). Socio-cognitive and nutritional factors associated with BMI in children and adolescents: Possibilities for childhood obesity prevention. Health Education Research, 21, 796-805.

22.

Ogden

C. L.

Carroll

M. D.

Curtin

L. R.

McDowell

M. A.

Tabak

C. J.

Flegal

C. M.

(2006). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. Journal of the American Medical Association, 295, 1549-1555.

23.

O’Loughlin

Paradis

Renaud

Meshefedjian

Gray-Donald

(1998). Prevalence and correlates of overweight among elementary schoolchildren in multiethnic, low income, inner-city neighbourhoods in Montreal, Canada. Annals of Epidemiology, 8, 422-432.

24.

Owen

S. V.

Froman

R. D.

(2005). Focus on research methods: Why carve up your data? Research in Nursing and Health, 28, 496-503.

25.

Pinto

B. M.

Lynn

Marcus

B. H.

Pue

J. D.

Goldstein

M. G.

(2001). Physician based activity counseling: Intervention effects on mediators of motivational readiness for physical activity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 2-10.

26.

Ponsonby

A. L.

Blizzard

Pezic

Cochrane

J. A.

Ellis

J. A.

Morley

Dwyer

(2008). Adiposity gain during childhood, ACE I/D polymorphisms and metabolic outcomes. Obesity, 16, 2141-2147.

27.

Richman

R. M.

Loughnan

G. T.

Droulers

A. M.

Steinbeck

K. S.

Caterson

I. D.

(2001). Self-efficacy in relation to eating behavior among obese and non-obese women. International Journal of Obesity, 25, 907-913.

28.

Spear

B. A.

Barlow

S. E.

Ervin

Ludwug

D. S.

Saelens

B. E.

Schetzina

K. E

Taveras

E. M.

(2007). Recommendations for treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity, Pediatrics, 120, S255-S288.

29.

Steele

M. M.

Bindler

Power

T. G.

Daratha

(2008, April). Measures of self-determination and self-efficacy in pre-adolescents. Poster session presented at the annual Western Institute of Nursing conference, Garden Grove, CA.

30.

Steele

M. M.

Power

T. G.

Daratha

Bindler

(2008, October). Readiness to change and pre-adolescent obesity: Examining the relationship between self efficacy and weight status. Poster presented at the Kansas Conference in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Lawrence, KS.

31.

Weiss

Dufour

Taksali

Tamborlane

W. V.

Petersen

K. F.

Bonadonna

R. C.

Caprio

(2003). Prediabetes in obese youth: A syndrome of impaired glucose tolerance, severe insulin resistance, and altered myocellular and abdominal fat partitioning. Lancet, 362, 951-957.