Attitudes toward body size and dieting: differences between elderly black and white women

Abstract

Eating restraint and body size perceptions of 404 White and African-American women 66 to 105 years of age (mean age = 73 years) were assessed by questionnaire. Compared with overweight White women, overweight Black women were 0.6 times as likely to feel guilty after overeating, 0.4 times as likely to diet, 2.5 times as likely to be satisfied with their weight, and 2.7 times as likely to consider themselves attractive. Among those who were not overweight, Black women were half as likely as White women to consider themselves overweight. Compared with Black women, White women perceived themselves to be larger and reported a lower ideal body weight.