Obesity Risk in Urban Adolescent Girls: Nutritional Intentions and Health Behavior Correlates (Report‪)‬

Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic levels in adolescent minority females (12-19 years of age). Public health and practitioner interventions to modify teens' diet and exercise behaviors have not yet proven effective in reversing this epidemic. It is very difficult to change an individual's lifestyle, developed over a lifetime of choices based on family and personal preferences, and reinforced by habit and culture. Obesity is a growing epidemic in adolescent girls. Of all adolescent girls, 32% are obese (body mass index [BMI] 95th percentile) or overweight (BMI between 85th and 95th percentile) (Ogden et al., 2006). This problem is even more pronounced for Black girls, 42% of whom are obese or overweight and 25% obese. This epidemic among teens is particularly troubling because adolescent girls who become obese are more likely to remain obese as adults and experience a higher level of morbidity and mortality than the general population (Singh, Mulder, Twisk, van Mechelen, & Chinapaw, 2008). This increased risk and its negative consequences could be counteracted by lifestyle changes during the adolescent years.