Weight Perceptions and Desired Body Size in a National Sample of African-American Men and Women with Diabetes

Historically, African-American men and women have had higher rates of overweight and obesity when compared with other racial and ethnicity groups. It has been hypothesized that the acceptance of larger body sizes may be due, in part, to a possible prevailing cultural notion within the African-American community that being "skinny" is associated with being unhealthy or malnourished. This acceptance of larger body sizes among African-American men and women may be a manifestation of African-American cultural norms. This exploratory analysis sought to probe self-perceptions of weight and desired body size among a socioeconomically diverse, national sample of African-American men and women diagnosed with diabetes. Results showed that the majority of men and women whose BMI placed them in the obese category, indicated that they would like to weigh less. However, close to half of those men and women whose BMI placed them in the overweight category, stated that they would like to maintain their same weight. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.