title: Overweight among Mexican Americans and its relationship to life style behavioral risk factors.
abstract: The hypothesis positing differences between Mexican Americans and whites regarding attitudes and behaviors concerning obesity and other health issues was tested. A random sample of 1171 whites and 155 Mexican Americans aged 18 to 65 was selected. Two analyses were carried out. First, overweight Mexican Americans were compared with overweight whites. Second, overweight individuals were compared with normal weight counterparts within each ethnic group. Differences between overweight Mexican Americans and overweight whites disappeared after adjusting for the effects of sex, income, educational status, and marital status. Among whites, several factors remained significantly different when comparing overweight with normal weight individuals. Among Mexican Americans, however, all but one of the significant differences between overweight and normal weight individuals disappeared after adjusting for other variables. The implications of these results as they relate to the implementation of public health programs to deal with the prevention and treatment of obesity among Mexican Americans are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Resources and Human Development, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287-2502.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Balcazar
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cobas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001130:Arizona / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D044465:White People