Table 1

Gender differences in worries about putting on weight and dieting at ages 11, 13, and 15

Within “lower”, “middle” and “overweight” BMIs for gender
OverallLowerMiddleOverweight†BMI category by gender interaction* (sig)
*Calculated via logistic regression. † “overweight”: age 11 =14.5% (M), 18.1% (F)— sig of sex difference =0.014; age 13 =15.7% (M), 17.5% (F)—sig =0.243; age 15 =16.0% (M), 18.0% (F)—sig =0.220.
Worried - putting on weight - % (95% CI)
Age 11 –M29.8 (27.4 to 32.3)13.8 (10.1 to 18.5)27.5 (24.6 to 30.5)61.1 (54.1 to 67.7)Wald = 0.8 (0.685)
F44.4 (41.7 to 47.2)20.5 (16.1 to 25.9)43.4 (39.9 to 46.9)75.6 (69.5 to 80.7)
Ratio F : M 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.2
Age 13 –M27.7 (25.3 to 30.3) 7.3 (4.7 to 11.2)24.9 (22.0 to 28.1)65.8 (58.8 to 72.2)Wald = 6.1 (0.048)
F58.7 (56.0 to 61.7)28.5 (23.0 to 34.7)61.6 (58.0 to 65.1)83.0 (77.2 to 87.6)
Ratio F : M 2.1 3.9 2.5 1.3
Age 15 –M22.9 (20.5 to 25.4) 4.5 (2.5 to 8.1)21.5 (18.6 to 24.7)52.3 (44.9 to 59.6)Wald = 4.2 (0.120)
F70.5 (67.7 to 73.2)41.2 (34.8 to 48.0)75.2 (71.7 to 78.4)87.7 (82.2 to 91.7)
Ratio F : M 3.1 9.1 3.5 1.7
Slimming diet - % (95% CI)
Age 11 –M 7.6 (6.3 to 9.1) 1.9 (0.8 to 4.4) 4.2 (3.1 to 5.8)30.2 (24.2 to 37.0)Wald = 9.4 (0.009)
F10.8 (9.2 to 12.7) 0.4 (0.1 to 2.2) 8.5 (6.7 to 10.7)30.2 (24.6 to 36.5)
Ratio F : M 1.4 0.2 2.0 1.0
Age 13 –M 5.3 (4.1 to 6.7) 0.0 (0.0 to 1.5) 3.0 (2.0 to 4.4)21.5 (16.2 to 27.8)Wald = 6.6 (0.038)
F15.8 (13.8 to 18.0) 1.3 (0.4 to 3.8)13.9 (11.6 to 16.7)38.9 (32.4 to 45.8)
Ratio F : M 3.0N/A 4.6 1.8
Age 15 –M 4.7 (3.6 to 6.1) 0.5 (0.1 to 2.5)3.3 (2.2 to 4.9)16.0 (11.3 to 22.2)Wald = 5.3 (0.070)
F26.1 (23.6 to 28.8) 8.1 (5.1 to 12.6)25.8 (22.6 to 29.3)48.4 (41.3 to 55.5)
Ratio F : M 5.516.2 7.8 3.0