Teenage Vegetarianism: Beauty Or The Beast?

This study in Australia, shows that people who are vegetarian often consider meat to be unhealthy and high in cholesterol, in addition to cruel to animals, harmful to the environment, and energy consuming.

Vegetarianism by adolescents, however, is viewed by adults as an acceptable form of rebellion.

Of the teens included in this study, 825 females stated they were not vegetarians, 50 were self reported full vegetarians, and 195 were semi-vegetarians, meaning they do not consume red meat, but white meat on occasion. 26 males were either self reported semi-vegetarians or vegetarians and were not included in this analysis.

Vegetarian and semi-vegetarian teens had more prominent dieting habits in addition to stronger anti-meat sentiments and stronger pro-fruit and pro-vegetable sentiments than non-vegetarians.

Vegetarian and semi-vegetarian females were more likely to support non-traditional roles for women, while non-vegetarian women were the opposite.

This study also suggests that vegetarian and semi-vegetarian women are also more conscious of their appearance than their non-vegetarian counterparts.