Teenage girls who keep close tabs on their weight may be more likely to take up unhealthy weight-control habits, a new study shows.

Researchers found that girls who said they frequently weighed themselves were more likely than their peers to develop problems with binge-eating and with risky weight-control tactics like skipping meals, using diet pills, vomiting and abusing laxatives.

Moreover, there didn't seem to be any upside to checking in often with the bathroom scale, the study found. For overweight teenage girls and boys alike, regular weigh-ins did nothing to aid their weight control.

"Our findings suggest that for the general population of adolescents, self-weighing is not helpful, and it may be harmful for adolescent girls," the researchers conclude in their report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Lead researcher Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer stated that other studies have found that regular weight checks may help adults who are trying to shed pounds -- but what's true of adults is not necessarily true of teenagers, she said.

For one, adolescents are still developing and their weight will necessarily change, whereas adults' weight should remain relatively stable.

Besides that, teenagers who focus on a number on the scale can develop the wrong mindset about weight and health, according to Neumark-Sztainer, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the author of the book "I'm, Like, So Fat!: Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices About Eating and Exercise in a Weight Obsessed World."

She suggested that parents of overweight teens avoid talking about weight and instead do things that make it easier for their children to follow a healthy lifestyle -- like stocking the kitchen with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthful foods, and encouraging regular exercise.

"Parents should talk less and do more," Neumark-Sztainer said.

She and her colleagues based their findings on survey responses from 2,516 Minnesota teenagers who were followed for five years. In the first survey, more than one-third of girls said they "often" weighed themselves, as did one-quarter of boys.

Five years later, these girls were more likely than their peers to report binge-eating and unhealthy weight-control measures.

It's not clear that the frequent weigh-ins actually caused the girls' eating problems. "But we know that self-weighing is preceding these behaviors," Neumark-Sztainer said.

Therefore, she said, it's better to steer children away from focusing on "outcomes" like the number on the scale, and toward maintaining a healthy lifestyle for the long term.

SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, December 2006.