SURVEY TITLE: Growing Up Today Study

ACRONYM: GUTS

SPONSOR: unknown.

SURVEY PURPOSE: The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) is a longitudinal cohort study of adolescent girls and boys living throughout the United States.

LOCATION SAMPLED: Study participants for the Growing Up Today Study were recruited in 1996 by identifying Nurses' Health Study II participants who reported having a least one child between 9 and 14 years of age. (see Nurses' Health Study)

YEARS SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTED: 1999.

SAMPLE SIZE: 16,800.

METHOD OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTION: Mail Survey.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION QUESTIONS:
Which one of the following best describes your feelings? (1) Completely heterosexual (attracted to persons of the opposite sex); (2) mostly heterosexual; (3) bisexual (equally attracted to men and women); (4) mostly homosexual; (5) completely homosexual (gay/lesbian, attracted to persons of the same sex); and (6) not sure.

RESULTS:

• Austin SB. Ziyadeh N. Kahn JA. Camargo CA Jr. Colditz GA. Field AE. Sexual orientation, weight concerns, and eating-disordered behaviors in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 43(9):1115-23, 2004 Sep. OBJECTIVE: To examine sexual orientation group differences in eating disorder symptoms in adolescent girls and boys. METHOD: Cross-sectional associations were examined using multivariate regression techniques using data gathered in 1999 from 10,583 adolescents in the Growing Up Today Study, a cohort of children of women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. RESULTS: Ninety-two percent of the cohort described themselves as heterosexual, 5% as mostly heterosexual, 1% as lesbian/gay/bisexual, and 2% as unsure. Both mostly heterosexual girls and boys had greater concerns with weight and appearance and were less happy with their bodies compared with same-gender heterosexuals (all p < .05). Compared with heterosexual girls, the mostly heterosexual girls were more likely to vomit/use laxatives to control weight (odds ratio 1.7; 95% confidence interval = 1.2-2.6) and to binge eat (odds ratio 2.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.4-3.8) in the past year. Compared with heterosexual boys, gay/bisexual boys were more concerned with trying to look like men in the media (p < .05) and more likely to binge (odds ratio 15.2; 95% confidence interval = 3.3-69). Compared with heterosexual girls, lesbian/bisexual girls were happier with their bodies (p < .05) and less concerned with trying to look like women in the media (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Mostly heterosexual girls and boys are a newly identified group at increased risk of eating disorder symptoms. Gay/bisexual boys were also at increased risk.
• Austin SB, Ziyadeh N, Fisher LB, Kahn JA, Colditz GA, Frazier AL. Sexual orientation and tobacco use in a cohort study of US adolescent girls and boys. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004 Apr;158(4):317-22. OBJECTIVE: To examine sexual orientation group disparities in tobacco use in adolescent girls and boys. DESIGN: Survey data from 10685 adolescent girls and boys participating in 1999 in the Growing Up Today Study were examined cross-sectionally. SETTING: Community-based population of adolescents living throughout the United States.Main Outcome Measure Prevalence of tobacco use. RESULTS: Ninety-two percent of the participants described themselves as heterosexual (n = 9296), 5% as mostly heterosexual (n = 511), 1% as lesbian/gay/bisexual (n = 103), and 2% as unsure (n = 226). Ages ranged from 12 to 17 years. Compared with heterosexuals, mostly heterosexual girls were 2.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.8-3.5), lesbian/bisexual girls were 9.7 (95% confidence interval, 5.1-18.4), and mostly heterosexual boys were 2.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.4-4.6) times more likely to smoke at least weekly. In contrast, gay/bisexual boys were not more likely to smoke. Findings persisted even when controlling for multiple sociodemographic and psychosocial covariates. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that mostly heterosexual adolescents of both sexes and lesbian/bisexual girls are
  at heightened risk for tobacco use.