Research
Weight-related attitudes and behaviors of black women

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Abstract

Weight-related attitudes and practices of women who attended health department clinics or who worked for a health and human services agency were assessed by means of an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. Black women who were 25 to 64 years old and were not pregnant or had not given birth within the past year were included in this analysis (n = 500). The overweight women perceived themselves as being overweight. They were less likely to be satisfied with their weight and more likely to have dieted and to be currently dieting than nonoverweight women. Awareness of obesity-related health risks was high, but the perceived psychosocial consequences of being overweight were somewhat limited. Approximately 40% of moderately and severely overweight women considered their figures to be attractive or very attractive, which indicates a relatively positive body image. The overweight women were less likely to exercise, less likely to skip meals, and more likely to eat between meals than the nonoverweight women. Among the subset who had ever attempted to lose weight (n = 368), the overweight women were significantly more likely to have regained all or more of the weight lost during their most recent attempt. The findings of this exploratory survey suggest that although overweight black women are weight conscious, the absence of strong negative social pressure combined with a relatively positive body image may limit the extent to which weight loss efforts are sustained. Findings about eating and exercise patterns suggest some specific factors that may interfere with the effectiveness of weight control among black women.

Section snippets

Data Collection

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to women in health department clinics and to staff of the health and human services agency for the District of Columbia. Thus, responses were from a predominantly black, socioeconomically diverse sample. The 50-item questionnaire required about 15 minutes to complete and included questions on demographic, medical, reproductive, and life-style variables as well as weight-related attitudes and behaviors. Some items were adapted from other surveys.

Sample Characteristics

The analysis sample consisted of 500 women, 261 from the staff population and 239 from the clinic population. In the overall sample, the mean (± standard deviation) age of the women was 40.6 ± 10.1 years. A majority (85.4%) had at least a high school education, and most (77.6%) were employed. Thirty percent had never been married: Parity ranged from 0 to 12 children with a mean of 2.1 ± 1.9. The BMI ranged from 15.1 to 60.4; the mean was 26.9 ± 6.3. The prevalence of moderate overweight (BMI =

DISCUSSION

Our findings are consistent with other reports in the literature indicating that black women are less preoccupied with dieting and somewhat more tolerant of overweight than white women 14., 15., 16., 17., 18., 19., 20.. Our findings suggest that the social environment of black women is less negative about obesity than might be commonly assumed based on data for white women and that being overweight is not necessarily synonymous with being unattractive. To say that black women are uninterested

APPLICATIONS

Although metabolic variables that limit the effectiveness of weight loss among overweight black women have not been ruled out, our findings suggest that attitudinal and behavioral factors that limit the ability of some black women to lose weight or maintain weight loss can be identified. Most importantly, perhaps, our data emphasize that obesity is culturally defined and not equally stigmatized in all cultures 29., 30., 31., 32., 33.. The consequences of being overweight may be much less

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the CPH staff who assisted with the development and implementation of the survey; the clients and staff who completed the questionnaires; and Dr Lynn Kozlowski and Jeanine Smit, who gave helpful critiques of an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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    This study was conducted in cooperation with the District of Columbia Commission of Public Health (CPH) while S. Kumanyika was on the epidemiology faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. The work at Johns Hopkins was supported, in part, by BRSG S07 RR 05445 awarded by the Biomedical Research Support Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health.

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