What Issues Do Teens Have with Their Bodies?
Percent
0%
50% 40% 30% 20% 10%
60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Behavior
Boys
Girls
A 2012 study published in
Pediatrics
found that muscle-enhancing behaviors were
more common in teen boys and girls than previously thought. The study surveyed
2,793 teens about five muscle-enhancing behaviors. While most behaviors were
more common among boys, the authors concluded that muscle-enhancing
behaviors among girls were significant, too. More than 40 percent of boys and
27 percent of girls said they exercised often with the aim of increasing muscle
mass. In addition, almost 12 percent of boys and 6.2 percent of girls said they
had used three or more behaviors in the past year.
Question: How Often Have You Employed
the Following Behaviors During the Past Year?
Source: Marla Eisenberg et al., “Muscle-Enhancing Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls and Boys,”
Pediatrics
, December 2012.
.
% Never
% Rarely
% Sometimes
% Often
Change eating
31.5
24.0
32.8
11.6
8.8
11.3
39.1
40.9
65.3
16.1
12.4
6.3
94.1
2.8
2.3
0.8
89.5
4.0
4.0
2.4
37.8
18.9
31.2
12.2
19.4
16.9
36.5
27.3
78.8
13.1
6.2
2.0
95.6
3.3
0.9
0.3
94.5
3.2
1.6
0.7
Exercise more
Protein powder/shake
Steroids
Other muscle-enhancing
substances
Change eating
Exercise more
Protein powder/shake
Steroids
Other muscle-enhancing
substances
Teens of Both Sexes Want
to Increase Muscularity
31
