Peer-reviewed article
Relationships Between Maternal Factors and Weight Loss Attempts Among Urban Male and Female Adolescents Living in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
Emmanuel Cohen, Linda Richter, Glory Chidumwa, Safa I.A. Abdalla, Ann M. Weber et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how mothers' characteristics relate to weight loss attempts in their adolescent children in Soweto, South Africa. Researchers followed 1,613 mother-child pairs from ages 13 to 22 years, collecting data on body weight, eating attitudes, and socioeconomic status. The study found that maternal factors predicted weight loss attempts differently for sons than daughters, with no significant maternal influence on daughters' behavior. The findings suggest that Western cultural values about thinness may affect girls' body image more than family influences, while boys' weight loss attempts were more linked to mothers' age and body size.
Key points
- More females attempted weight loss than males at all three time points (ages 13, 17, and 22 years)
- For boys, higher household socioeconomic status predicted weight loss attempts at age 13
- Mothers' body mass index showed negative associations with sons' weight loss attempts at ages 17 and 22
- Mothers' age was independently associated with sons' weight loss attempts at age 22
- No associations were found between any maternal factors and daughters' weight loss attempts
Limitations
The study cannot determine causation or explain why daughters' weight loss attempts were unrelated to maternal factors. The findings are specific to an urban South African population and may not generalize to other cultural or geographic contexts.
Abstract
PURPOSE: South Africa is undergoing rapid urban transition favoring ideals of thinness, which increases eating disorders risk for female adolescents, whereas older women continue to uphold corpulence as a female cultural value. This study aimed to assess the potential conflicting relationship between urban male and female adolescents' weight loss attempts (WLA) and maternal body image norms within households. METHODS: The study included a longitudinal sample of mother-daughter and mother-son pairs from the Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort (N = 1,613), using data collected at 13, 17, and 22 years. Sociodemographic characteristics, eating attitudes, WLA, and body mass index were assessed in mothers and their offspring. Relationships between maternal factors and offspring's WLA were assessed using both logistic regression and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: More females had WLA compared with their male counterparts at 13, 17, and 22 years. Multivariable models showed an independent positive association between maternal household socioeconomic status and boys' WLA at 13 years, whereas independent negative associations were found between mothers' body mass index and boys' WLA at 17 and 22 years. Mothers' age and sons' WLA at 22 years showed an independent positive association. No association was found between maternal factors and daughters' WLA. CONCLUSIONS: Strong gender-differentiated intergenerational patterns were observed between maternal factors and offspring's WLA from early adolescence to early adulthood. The lack of relationship between maternal factors and daughters' behavior in contrast to that of sons suggests that Western acculturation may pose a greater risk for females to modern body image disturbances and eating disorders.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- No intervention was tested; this is an observational study examining natural associations
- Population
- Mother-child pairs (n=1,613) from the Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort in Soweto, Johannesburg, followed at ages 13, 17, and 22 years
Key finding
Gender-differentiated intergenerational patterns: maternal factors predicted sons' weight loss attempts but not daughters'
Cohen et al. · Prof. Linda Richter (OpenAlex works) · 19 Dec 2019