Social influences and female adolescent dieting.

A large sample of female adolescents whose ages ranged from 12 to 17 years completed a battery of measures assessing their dieting status and their perceived psychosocial influences to diet. Higher levels of perceived influence from parents and peers were reported by girls who were dieting with a greater frequency. While age and social influences significantly predicted dieting status on their own, when examined together, the effect of social influence overrode that for age.