The prevalence of obesity in African-American women exceeds that of white women beginning around adolescence. Black females may have attitudes more permissive to the development of obesity, but few studies have looked at this during adolescence. The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes toward body size between black and white middle school-aged girls.

The study took place in 3 middle schools in North Carolina. 379 girls participated, 216 blacks and 155 whites. Mean age was 12.6 years. Subjects filled out questionnaires assessing body image, body satisfaction, and dieting behavior. Weight, height, subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness were measured for each subject. 33% of blacks and 32% of whites were overweight.

There were 4 items that assessed body image. Each of these items had five response options describing the subject's own body size ranging form very underweight to very overweight. Subjects were asked how they viewed their own body and how they felt their friends, their mother, and boys viewed their body. Body satisfaction was assessed by one item which asked How happy are you with your body size?. Response options ranged from very happy to very unhappy. Dieting behavior was assessed by asking the subjects Are you on a diet now? and fo those who said yes, Why are you on a diet?.

More blacks than whites felt their body was about the right weight (55% vs. 47%). They were more likely to perceive their bodies as underweight (22% vs. 16%) and less likely to view themselves as overweight (23% vs. 37%). Blacks were more likely to feel boys perceived them as the right weight (60% vs. 55%) or underweight (22% vs. 16%) and less likely to feel boys perceived them as overweight (18% vs. 29%). There were no differences in how they felt their mother or friends viewed their body. Blacks were more likely than whites to be somewhat or very happy about their body size (74% versus 65%). When asked Are you on a diet now? 15% of blacks and 21% of whites answered yes. When asked why, blacks were 9 times more likely to report being on a diet to gain weight. These results suggest that black girls' attitudes and behaviors might indeed make them more vulnerable to the development of obesity.