Black and white adolescent males' perceptions of ideal body size

Abstract

A stratified random sample of 496 white (n = 337) and black (n = 159) adolescent males participated in a survey of ideal body size beliefs. Responses to the questionnaire and a series of nine female and male body size drawings were analyzed using the General Linear Model Analysis of Variance and Categorical Modeling. Using SES and race as independent variables and BMI (kg/m2) as a covariate, black males were found to prefer a significantly heavier ideal female body size than whites (p