Body image and attitude toward obesity in an historically black university.
BACKGROUND
The obesity epidemic is a major problem in the United States, particularly among black women. Body image and attitudes toward obesity are important areas to understand and address in any comprehensive approach to this epidemic.


METHODS
From an initial evaluation of 200 college students (25 male and 25 female freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors each) attending an historically black university, we selected those students who identified themselves as black for data analysis (n = 191). All students underwent height and weight measurement from which body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Each student answered two questions related to nine silhouettes for each sex that progressively moved from extreme thinness to extreme obesity. Also, each student answered 20 questions describing attitudes about obesity.


RESULTS
Black college students placed between the 62nd and 72nd percentiles of national BMI data for adolescents. Black female students were more likely than their black male counterparts to be obese. BMI did not vary by sex or grade level. Students of both sexes generally preferred "trim" silhouettes with the caveat that students with BMIs <25 kg/m2 preferred smaller silhouettes than did students with BMIs > or =25 kg/m2. BMI and sex did not favor any particular set of attitudes toward obesity.


CONCLUSIONS
Black male and female college students from an historically black university were largely in the "normal" range of BMI percentiles for sex and age. Our black female students were more likely to be obese than our black male students. Our findings suggest that young black women are tolerant of a variety of body sizes. Based on findings from our Attitudes Toward Obese Persons scale, body size sense of self and sex do not influence attitudes toward obese persons. Further studies are needed.
Gipson
Gilbert W
GW
Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA, USA.
Reese
Serena
S
Vieweg
W Victor R
WV
Anum
Emmanuel A
EA
Pandurangi
Anand K
AK
Olbrisch
Mary Ellen
ME
Sood
Bela
B
Silverman
Joel J
JJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D014768:Virginia / Q000453:epidemiology