Perceptions of body size in Paci®c Islanders AA Brewis 1 , ST McGarvey 2 , J Jones 3 and BA Swinburn 4 1 Department of Anthropology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA; 2 Department of Medicine and Community Health, Brown University School of Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI, USA, Departments of 3 Anthropology and 4 Community Health, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand OBJECTIVE: To assess attitudes to body size and obesity in Samoans, a Paci®c island group characterised by very high levels of obesity and traditionally strong positive cultural views of large bodies. DESIGN: Cross sectional study of Samoan adults in Samoa and New Zealand. SUBJECTS: 84 female and 77 male Samoans in Samoa and 41 female and 24 male Samoans in Auckland, New Zealand, aged 25±55 y. MEASUREMENT: Body mass index (BMI), standardised survey questionnaires of perceptions of bodyweight and health, diet and exercise, and perception of body sizes on a continuous scale. RESULTS: Although Samoans in both countries display high population levels of obesity, ideal body sizes are slim and body dissatisfaction and attempted weight losses were apparent. However, women and men above normal weight did not characteristically perceive themselves as obese, were as positive about their body size, weight and health, and obese women were no more likely to be attempting to lose weight than their slimmer peers. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional Samoan veneration of large bodies is not apparent as ideal body sizes are slim. An important difference in values with Western industrialised societies is the absence of a strongly negative view of obesity. Keywords: body image; body satisfaction; Paci®c island; Samoa; New Zealand Introduction Traditionally, large bodies have had prestige in Poly- nesian societies, seen as representing high status, power, authority and wealth. 1 This is in striking contrast to the views that characterise contemporary notions of the body in advanced capitalist societies, in which fat phobia and veneration of thinness are pervasive, power- ful ideologies. 2 Associated with this pursuit of slimness are epidemics in eating and exercise disorders, and low body self-esteem even in slim women. 3±6 The aim of this study was to measure perceptions of bodies and views of obesity in Samoans living in Samoa and Auckland, New Zealand. Both populations are modernising and have an increasing prevalence of obesity, 7±9 although the Auckland populations experi- ence both to a greater degree. The questions we address are: How do Samoans perceive and value their own body sizes and large bodies in general? Even in modernizing settings, have Samoans retained a strong positive value towards large bodies? How strong are desires for change in body size in Samoans in populations characterised by very high levels of obesity? And, given that studies in industrial settings have shown women are more susceptible to negative self-body image and thin idealism than men, 10,11 how do Samoan attitudes to body size vary by gender? Methods Subjects and study populations Data described here were collected in eight villages in both urban and rural Samoa (N  160 participants) in conjunction with the Brown University Adiposity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Study, 12 and in two Samoan church communities in Auckland (N  65) in conjunction with a community-based health promo- tion study (the Ola Fa autauta Project). Samoa is an independent central Paci®c nation in which Samoans comprise the majority (98%) of the population. Large numbers of Samoans migrated from (then named) Western Samoa to New Zealand in the 1960s, where they now constitute a visible minority group with established church-centred social communities. Anthropometrics Body mass index (BMI), calculated as kg=m 2 , was used as the measure of actual body size of individuals. Questionnaire A structured questionnaire was administered verbally, covering background information, recent dieting, eating and exercise behaviours and attitudes, and general attitudes to body and body parts graded on a Likert-type scale (that is, strongly negative, moder- ately negative, neutral, moderately positive or strongly positive). A single score for general body satisfaction was converted by taking an average from Likert-type scores for seven main body parts. Correspondence to: Dr Alexandra A Brewis, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1619, USA. Received 23 April 1997; revised 22 September 1997; accepted 9 October 1997 International Journal of Obesity (1998) 22, 185±189 ß 1998 Stockton Press All rights reserved 0307±0565/98 $12.00