Racial differences in the influence of female adolescents’ body size on dating and sex Mir M. Ali a,1 , John A. Rizzo b,c, *, Aliaksandr Amialchuk d,2 , Frank Heiland e,3 a Analysis & Services Research Branch, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD 20857, USA b Department of Economics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA c Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA d Department of Economics, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA e CUNY Institute of Demographic Research, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, New York, NY 10010, USA 1. Introduction Body size is a prominent aspect of appearance, and as such it is subject to esthetic assessment. A physical appearance that is deemed attractive by others is an asset that is valuable in many situations of human interactions such as in the labor market (Hamermesh and Biddle, 1994; Mobius and Rosenblat, 2006), romantic relationships (Carmalt et al., 2008; Cawley et al., 2006; Pearce et al., 2002), and, more broadly, situations of face-to-face interaction and exchange (Mulford et al., 1998; Ali et al., 2012). How individuals value physical attributes such as body size depends on their preferences. Social scientists believe that body size preferences, in turn, reflect a complex set of factors, including socio-cultural influences such as body size ideals (‘‘beauty norms’’) and attitudes toward overweight and obese individuals (‘‘stigmatiza- tion’’), which may vary independently of body size ideals. Stigmatization of overweight and obese people is a fairly well-known phenomenon. Relative to non-obese subjects, obese individuals are viewed as less attractive (Ali et al., 2013), less intelligent, and less industrious, Economics and Human Biology 12 (2014) 140–152 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 2 April 2012 Received in revised form 11 November 2013 Accepted 20 November 2013 Available online 1 December 2013 JEL classification: I12 J10 Z13 Keywords: Obesity Body image Adolescence Sexual behavior National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health A B S T R A C T This paper investigates the effect of body size on dating and sexual experiences of white (non-Hispanic) and African American (non-Hispanic) female adolescents. Using data from Add-Health, we estimate the effects of obesity and BMI z-score on the probability of having been involved in a romantic relationship, having ever been touched in the genital area in a sexual way, and having ever engaged in sexual intercourse. We find that obese white teenage girls are less likely to have been in a romantic relationship compared to their non- obese counterparts. In addition, obese white girls are less likely to ever have had sex (intercourse) or to ever have been intimate. There are no systematic differences in relationship experiences and sexual behaviors between obese and non-obese black girls. Overall, the estimated relationships are very robust to common environmental influences at the school-level and to the inclusion of proxies for low self-esteem, attitudes toward sex and interviewer assessment of appearance and personality. Instrumental variables estimates and estimates from models with lagged weight status confirm the overall patterns. ß 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. * Corresponding author at: Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. Tel.: +1 631 741 8539; fax: +1 631 444 3480. E-mail addresses: mir.ali@samhsa.hhs.gov (M.M. Ali), john.rizzo@stonybrook.edu (J.A. Rizzo), aamialc@utnet.utoledo.edu (A. Amialchuk), frank.heiland@baruch.cuny.edu (F. Heiland). 1 Tel.: +1 240 276 1336; fax: +1 240 276 1260. 2 Tel.: +1 419 530 5147; fax: +1 419 530 7844. 3 Tel.: +1 646 660 6700; fax: +1 646 660 6701. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Economics and Human Biology jou r nal h o mep age: h tt p://w ww.els evier .co m/lo c ate/eh b 1570-677X/$ – see front matter ß 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2013.11.001