Weight perception of adolescent dancing school students

Objective: To study the hypothesis that underweight may be more prevalent among dancing school students than among nondancing school girls, and that their teachers and peers may play a role in developing this tendency. Design: A case-control study on a convenience sample. Setting: Two local dancing schools and one neighboring regular school. Participants: Forty ballet students, aged 13 to 17 years, from four classes and 29 age-matched girls in four regular classes. Intervention: None. Measurements/Main Results: Each pupil was asked to classify herself and her peers as underweight, normal, or overweight; teachers were asked to classify their pupils by the same categories. Results were compared with an objective score, weight as a percentage of ideal weight for height, in which less than 85% indicates underweight; 85% to 115%, normal; and more than 115%, overweight. A higher prevalence of underweight as well as a significant tendency to overestimate self-evaluation was found among dancing students. Dancing teachers' evaluation tended to be inaccurate, especially regarding their underweight students. Conclusions: The atmosphere in dancing classes may encourage striving for thinness beyond normal limits. Ballet teachers may play a significant role in this process. We suggest that physicians and nutritionists be involved in ballet schools.