title: An assessment of measures of body image, body attitude, acculturation, and weight status among Mexican American women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this descriptive study was to establish the validity and reliability of the measurement of body image and body attitudes among Mexican American women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Completed measures of height, weight, waist circumference, body mass index, acculturation, body image, and body attitude of 35 U.S.-born Mexican American women between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age. Also included were repeated measures of body image and body attitude and verbatim face-to-face interviews with 13 study participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most study participants were overweight; however, body image discrepancy (difference between perceived actual and ideal body image) did not increase as anticipated and was negatively related to body mass index; suggesting those participants' perceptions of ideal body image increased with increasing body size and was reliable. Body attitude subscale scores had varying relationships to weight status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further study is warranted examining why an acceptance of a greater body image occurs, potentially leading to a greater understanding of the influences of body image integration on health behaviors. Clinicians working with Mexican American women should consider weight reduction interventions that are based on an individual assessment of the perceptions of body image and body attitudes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care, Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA. Yvette.Petti@va.gov
authors.forename: Yvette M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Petti
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cowell
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001828:Body Image; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology*; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult