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Attitudes Regarding Overweight, Exercise, and Health among Blacks (United States)

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Abstract

Objective To investigate Blacks’views regarding the connections among overweight, exercise, and health.

Methods A national randomized telephone survey of 986 US Blacks, conducted between 6 July 2004 and 15 July 2004.

Results The majority (65%) of respondents reported their weight as average or underweight. Most participants also reported being regularly physically active in the last month (84.5%). The majority of participants reported believing that it is possible to be overweight and healthy. Most acknowledged the connection between exercise and health, and just over half of respondents identified the association between overweight and cancer risk. There was little sociodemographic variation in responses, although findings differed by self-reported overweight and physical activity.

Conclusions Some Blacks may underestimate the extent of their overweight, perhaps resulting from the high prevalence of the condition in the population. Gaps exist in Blacks’ recognition of the connection between weight and health, although the importance of exercise for health promotion was widely acknowledged. These data may highlight an important target for intervention attention.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Sandy Askew and Jodi Anna Saia-Witte for their assistance with the preparation of this manuscript. This research was supported by Grant #5 P01 CA75308 from the National Institutes of Health and support to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by Liberty Mutual, National Grid, and the Patterson Fellowship Fund. G.G. Bennett is also supported by an award from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. K.Y. Wolin was supported, in part, by a National Cancer Institute training grant (5 T32 CA09001-28).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Gary G. Bennett & Karen Emmons

  2. Center for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Gary G. Bennett & Karen Emmons

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Kathleen Y. Wolin

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Melody Goodman

  5. Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Boston, MA, USA

    Michelle Samplin-Salgado

  6. Harvard Center for Society and Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Patricia Carter

  7. CBS News Poll, New York, NY, USA

    Sarah Dutton

  8. Black Entertainment Television, Washington, DC, USA

    Retha Hill

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  1. Gary G. Bennett
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  2. Kathleen Y. Wolin
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  3. Melody Goodman
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  4. Michelle Samplin-Salgado
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Correspondence to Gary G. Bennett.

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(At the time of the study, Dr. Wolin was with the Harvard School of Public Health and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute)

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Bennett, G.G., Wolin, K.Y., Goodman, M. et al. Attitudes Regarding Overweight, Exercise, and Health among Blacks (United States). Cancer Causes Control 17, 95–101 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-005-0412-5

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