New research suggests that self-weighing frequently may have an adverse psychological effect on women.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota found increases in self-weighing to be significantly related to increases in weight concern and depression and decreases in body satisfaction and self-esteem among females, The Huffington Post reported.
"Females who strongly agreed they self-weighed reported engaging in extremely dangerous weight-control behaviors at a rate of 80 percent," Carly R. Pacanowski, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Adolescent obesity is a public health concern, but body dissatisfaction and weight concerns are predictors of eating disorders. This makes it critical that obesity-prevention programs avoid exacerbating these predictors by understanding how behaviors such as self-weighing affect teens."
For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from nearly 2,000 young adults over 10 years, Newsmax reported. Investigators used participants' descriptions of the prevalence of their self-weighing from the study to examine associations between self-weighing and changes in weight status, psychological variables, and behavioral outcomes.
They found that women who reported increases in self-weighing over the 10-year period were expected to have increases in weight concern and depressive symptoms and decreases in body satisfaction and self-esteem. As such, self-weighing may not be an innocuous behavior and care should be taken when young adults report self-weighing
"Clinicians should ask adolescent patients about self-weighing at office visits to determine any benefits or negative outcomes," Pacanowski said. "Noting changes in this behavior over time can be helpful for investigating other, more concerning changes in well-being among young adults."
The findings are detailed in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
