Project EAT-III: Eating Among Teens and Young Adults
Objectives
Project EAT-III will improve our understanding of what influences eating, physical activity, and weight-related behaviors in teens and young adults. The following research questions were addressed:
How do weight status and related behaviors (i.e. eating, physical activity, and weight control behaviors) change over time as young people progress through adolescence and young adulthood?
What secular changes in weight status and related behaviors have occurred over the past 10 years among middle school and high school students?
What are the most important environmental, personal, and behavioral influences on weight status and related behaviors for teens and young adults?
How do different factors, including characteristics of environments (i.e. home, peer, school, and neighborhood environments), personal factors and behavioral factors, work together to influence weight status and related behaviors?
How do weight status and related behaviors compare with the Healthy People 2010 Objectives, as we approach the year 2010?
How do weight status, weight-related behaviors, and influencing factors differ across gender, ethnicity/race, and socioeconomic status?
Research Design
To address the Project EAT-III objectives, two major study components are planned.
Follow-up study with young adults: The EAT survey will be revised based on an expanded model, integrating an ecological perspective with Social Cognitive Theory. Previous Project EAT participants will be contacted by mail and asked to complete the revised survey, a dietary questionnaire, and a physical activity questionnaire.
School-based study with teens: A new group of young people will be recruited from middle schools and high schools in Minnesota. This component of the study will include in-school surveys and measurements of student height and weight, as well as measurements of peer, school, and neighborhood environments. Environmental measures will be completed by peers themselves, school personnel, and Project EAT-III staff. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will also be used to learn about the neighborhood environment.
Link
to: Academic Health Center : School
of Public Health : U of M Home 
Project EAT-III: Eating Among Teens and Young Adults
Project EAT-III will improve our understanding of what influences eating, physical activity, and weight-related behaviors in teens and young adults. The following research questions were addressed:
