Black and White Females' Perceptions of Ideal Body Size and Social Norms

Karen A. Kernper · Roger G. Sargent · J. Wanzer Drane · Robert E Valois · James Robert Hussey

191 citations0/0 files storedObesity Research

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Eating Disorders and Behaviors Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet Obesity and Health Practices

Abstract

Different cultural norms and standards for appropriate female body size might contribute to the disparity in obesity rates between black and white adult females (46.0% and 24.6% respectively). The purpose of this study was to measure adolescents' perceptions of ideal size and social norms regarding female body size as well as adolescents' perceptions of significant others' evaluation and expectations of the adolescents' body size. Subjects included 437 adolescent girls (247 white and 190 black) aged 13 to 19 (x = 14.9, SD = .979) from six randomly selected public schools. The subjects, heights and weights were measured. Responses to a body image questionnaire and a series of nine female body drawings (arranged ordinally, 1 to 9, from thinnest to heaviest) were analyzed using the General Linear Model and Logistic Regression. The female body size considered ideal by black females was significantly larger than the size selected as ideal by white females (x = 3.47 and x = 3.13 respectively, p < 0.001). Black females were two times more likely than white females to describe themselves as thinner than other girls their age (O.R. = 2.01, 95% C.I. 1.34, 3.01) and seven times as likely to say that they were not overweight (O.R. = 7.08, 95% C.I. 3.72, 13.45). White females wanted to be a smaller size than they currently were and felt encouraged by significant others to lose weight or reduce their size. Black females did not indicate as great a desire as whites to be smaller and they tended to feel that their size was considered satisfactory by significant others. Only subjects from the low SES group perceived that significant others wanted them to gain weight. The differences between black and white subjects' beliefs and perceptions about body size norms may explain, in part, why heavier body weights persist in some cultural groups.

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References

1980Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women 1985Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape.1987Prevalence of weight reducing and weight gaining in adolescent girls and boys.1966A Longitudinal Study of Gross Body Composition and Body Conformation and Their Association with Food and Activity in a Teen-Age Population 1987Handbook of eating disorders 1988Gender differences in social consequences of perceived overweight in the United States and Australia

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1999Body image among men and women in a biracial cohort: The CARDIA study 2001Overweight concerns and body dissatisfaction among third-grade children: The impacts of ethnicity and socioeconomic status 2009Measured body mass index, body weight perception, dissatisfaction and control practices in urban, low-income African American adolescents 1996Black and white adolescent males' perceptions of ideal body size 2000Continuity and change in the evaluation of ideal and acceptable body sizes across a wide age span 2024Cultural Differences in Body Image: A Systematic Review 2000

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