title: BMI-based norms for a culturally relevant body image scale among African Americans.
abstract: The present study provides body mass index (BMI) standards for interpreting culturally relevant body image figure scores among African American men and women. Concordance between participants' and independent raters' figure selection is evaluated and the sensitivity and specificity of the figures for predicting overweight status are reported. African American adults (n = 498, 71% female) selected the figure most closely resembling them currently, and had their height and weight measured to calculate BMI. Three independent raters selected the figure that most closely resembled a subset of the participants (n = 277, 75% female). Probability that overweight status was correctly identified was 85% for participants and 98% for raters. ROC analysis showed that figures selected by raters (86%) and participants (83%) were equally sensitive in predicting overweight status using the gold standard, BMI. Figures selected by raters (98%) were more specific in predicting overweight status than when selected by participants (75%). Considerations in using participant- or rater-based norms for interpreting figure scores are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University San Marcos, United States. Electronic address: kpulvers@csusm.edu.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pulvers
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bachand
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nollen
authors.forename: Hongfei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jasjit S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ahluwalia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: African American; BMI; Body image; Body size; Figure; Perception