Question: Why do you think (from your research) that adolescent girls focus on their eating habits more than other ages and genders?

anon answered on 8 Mar 2021:

A lot of ideas have been put forward to explain differences in eating behaviours, between men and women. There are different personality traits which tend to be stronger in certain genders (but not always!) that may play a role. For example, women tend to be more motivated to practice self-care, so they might focus on eating healthily or on weight loss than men. Men also tend to have more muscle mass and a higher metabolic rate, so they do not need to focus as much on maintaining a healthy body weight. I also personally think there are other factors at play, for example, girls often have lower levels of self-esteem and a poorer self-image, coupled with social media and societal pressures can make them feel like they need to look a certain way, and so they can potentially focus more on weight management.

We are hoping to understand why adolescent girls tend to skip breakfast. So far, we have found some interesting points. The girls we interviewed said they needed to spend that time in the morning on getting ready (hair, makeup, etc.) or that they preferred to get more sleep. Some also mentioned helping get younger siblings ready for school or having responsibilities/chores in the home, which meant they had less time for breakfast.