節制飲食是指有自覺的傾向限制進食，以預防體重的增加或促使體重減少，國外學者指出，節制飲食在孩子12歲時即已相當顯著。社會文化強調瘦即是美，使得青少年，尤其是青少女追求一個多數人無法達到的纖瘦體型。對身體的不滿意度、對體重的關注程度，成為飲食障礙發生之重要危險因素。本研究以台灣地區國小六年級及國中學生為研究對象，抽取國中19校、國小8校，以郵寄方式委託教師以班級為單位進行團體施測，得到有效樣本共822份。研究問卷包含「個人背景資料」、「多向度身體和自我關係量表」、「三因子飲食量表」、「體型受嘲笑量表」四部分。主要分析方法為卡方考驗和階層式迴歸分析。研究結果發現，青少女對體型不滿意者(35.7%)較青少男(22.8%)要多，且不論實際體型為何，多數(82.5%)青少男及青少女(72.8%)期望正常體型，但有許多(25.8%)青少女期望偏瘦之體型。男女青少女均有相當高的比例為高度飲食節制者(男26.8%，女39.2%)，青少女飲食知覺節制程度顯著高於青少男；但男女青少年飲食失控情形皆低（男0.5%，女3.1%)，也沒有顯著差異。在飢餓反應程度方面，青少女之反應程度較青少男低（男9.2%，女6.1%）。在背景變項中之「崇拜偶像身材」、「體型受嘲笑經驗」，在體型意識變項中之「對體型之過度關注」及「外表取向」二個面向，是影響節制飲食行為之最主要的變項，他們除了影響飲食知覺節制行為外，也影響飲食失控行為及飢餓的反應程度。
Restrained eating refers to the tendency to restrict food intake consciously in order to prevent weight gain or to promote weight loss. Dieting and other efforts to control body weight have become increasingly popular in western societies, even in the 12-year-olds. Cultural ideals for beauty emphasize a slender body shape of prepubertal development that is unattainable for most adolescents and women after puberty. Body dissatisfaction and overweight preoccupation are the major risk factors of eating disorders. The purpose of this study is to understand adolescents′ body image and dietary restraint. A total of 822 students from 19 Junior high schools and 8 elementary schools completed a self-administered questionnaire which includes demographic information, the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), teasing experience scale. The results showed that female adolescents (35.7%) have higher degree of body dissatisfaction than male adolescents (22.8%). In spite of actual body figure, the majority (82.5%) of adolescent boys and girls (72.8%) expected a normal body figure, but there were 25.8% of adolescent girls expected a slim body figure. A relatively large percentage of adolescents(26.8% in male, 39.2% in female) showed high degree of cognitive restraint of eating, but only small percentage of adolescents showed high degree of disinhibition (0.5% in male, 3.1% in female) or hunger (9.2% in male, 6.1% in female). Being teased, admiring the figure of models, higher degree of overweight preoccupation and appearance orientation are the major predictors of adolescents′ cognitive restrained eating behavior, also disinhibition and hunger.
