When it comes to texting, teenagers out-type every other age group by a long shot, with some sending thousands of text messages every month. But what if this activity could be used to help teens lose weight? One study aimed to find out whether text messages could be used to promote positive weight management activities in overweight teens, discovering that such at-risk teenagers felt reassured by positive messages but disliked deeper questions.
Overweight and obese teenagers are a difficult demographic to reach. Weight loss interventions typically have trouble making a difference in their lives as the teens have difficulty adapting to healthier habits in diet and exercise. A research team at the University of Michigan believed that using text messages might be helpful in encouraging overweight and obese teens to make healthier choices. Text messages have previously been used to help individuals overcome other bad habits.
The research team, which published its results in the journal Obesity, conducted its study with four focus groups of 24 teens, both male and female, who were participants in weight management programs. The research team tested six types of text messages for effectiveness, including messages tailored to the individual, healthy eating ideas, targeted tips, testimonials, feedback questions and questions that encouraged introspection on the part of the teens.
The teens were interested in the messages overall, but less excited about certain aspects: they enjoyed the meal and recipe ideas as well as the testimonials, but only when those messages were coming from other teenagers.
The participants favored positive messages with some uses of texting trends such as emoticons. However, certain colloquialisms, such as “LOL,” failed to make a good impression. In addition, any mention of unhealthy foods was not looked upon favorably, even if they were mentioned in the context of discussing healthier choices; even the suggestion of those unhealthy foods might have caused cravings for those foods.
Researchers experimented with broad questions that encouraged self-reflection and introspection, but they did not garner a positive response. Some texts featured several such questions in a row, such as “What does being healthy mean for you? How does screen time fit in with your goals? How could cutting back on it help improve your health?” The teens felt that there were too many questions and weren’t sure which ones they should answer first. When the teens discussed the questions with researchers, they said that they simply wanted to have healthy habits outlined for them instead of having to devise their own diet and exercise systems.
The teens’ reluctance to develop their own plans surprised the researchers, since some studies have shown that people who make their own behavior modifications are more likely to stick with them than if they’re simply being told what to do. However, the researchers noted that the length limitations of text messages may have hindered the progress that those types of questions could make.
According to the research team, their next goal is to conduct additional research to determine if the messages could actually contribute to positive changes in diet and exercise habits along with actual weight loss in overweight and obese teenagers.
Child and teen obesity began a dramatic increase in the 1990s and has climbed to frightening levels. Over 30 states in the United States have child and teen obesity rates above 30%.