ADOLESCENT ATTITUDES TOWARD WEIGHT AND APPEARANCE Johanna T. Dwyer, Jacob J. Feldman, Carl C. Seltzer and Jean Mayer A study in a Boston suburb reveals body image in adolescents. Body measurements of high school seniors were correlated with subjects' attitudes toward their weight and perception of appearance. The rapid and striking physical changes which occur during adolescence make appearance a matter of great con- cern and interest for the adolescent. They force him to re-evaluate the conceptions of his appearance which he developed as a child and to form new concepts more appropriate to the reality of his matur- ing body. Perhaps this situation of flux in phys- ical appearance makes the adolescent particularly sensitive to socio-cultural norms and strictures concerning his ap- pearance. Variations in appearance such as fatness which are well within the nor- mal range from a medical viewpoint may not be defined as such by him when sub- jective impressions are strongly influ- enced by more narrow group dictated norms. Such variations may be percieved as abnormal and may generate a great deal of anxiety and unhappiness. The goal of this study was to obtain information for the construction of weight control programs at the high school level. 1. Attitudes toward weight, as meas- ured by: a. desires with regard to weight (henceforth to be referred to as desired weights). b. weights which subjects thought they ought to weigh (henceforth to be referred to as proper weight). c. degree of conc;ern with weight as measured by frequency of weigh- ing onest;lf. 2. Sources of information concerning weight. 3. Degree to which accuracy in report- ing of weight varied with differ- ences in body fatness. THE A UTHORS are, in order appearing above, Research Trainee, Dept. of Nutri- tion; Associate Professor of Biostatistics; Senior Research Associate in Biological An- thropology: and Professor of Nutrition, all at Harmrd School of Public Health. 14 / JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION 4. The extent of dissatisfaction with body dimensions. Sample and Methods Subjects for this study were from the senior classes of two high schools in a middle to upper middle class suburban community in the Greater Boston area. Four hundred forty-six female students 16 to 18 years old and representing 67 per cent of all senior girls and 145 male students 16 to 19 years old and repre- senting 21 per cent of all senior boys participated in the study. The sample was drawn from students in the gym classes of the high schools. Body measurements were made by a physical anthropologist using standard techniques. 1 An assistant accompanying the anthropologist recorded her own opinions of appearance in three cate- gories (thin, medium and obese) before each subject was measured. Comparisons of the measurements ob- tained for the entire class with the sample indicated that the sample of girls was representative with respect to physical measurements. A similar comparison for boys revealed that the male sample was not representative with respect to phys- ical measurements. Few boys engaged in varsity athletics could be included in the study because they were excused from the classes in which the survey was made. For purposes of analysis, the population was categorized on the basis of body fat- ness levels as assessed by triceps skin- fold measurements. The following criteria for dividing the groups in respect to body fatness were used: For Females 1. Obese: all subjects whose triceps measurements were greater than the low- er limits of the obesity category as pub- lished by Seltzer and Mayer. 2 2. Above Average Fatness: those with triceps measurement equal to the popu- lation mean of 19 mm. or greater, but less than the lower limit of the obesity standards for age given by Seltzer and Mayer. 3. Below Average Fatness: those with a triceps measurement between 18 mm. and no lower than 12 mm. 4. Lean: those falling 1 standard devi- ation below the mean, corresponding to a triceps of 11 mm. or less. For Males 1. Obese: those subjects whose triceps measurements were greater than the low- er limits of the obesity standard defined by Seltzer and Mayer for boys of these ages. 2. Average Fatness: those subjects whose triceps measurements were greater than the population mean of 10 mm. but who were not obese, all those subjects whose triceps measurements fell within one standard deviation below the mean. 3. Lean: those subjects whose triceps measurements fell one standard devia- tion below the mean of the subjects who were questioned, corresponding to a tri- ceps measurement of 5 mm. or less. Attitudes toward appearance were ob- tained from precoded questionnaires which were answered by the subjects some 3 to 5 months after the physical measurements had been taken. The following data were collected on the questionnaire: 1. Each subject's report of his proper weight; proper weight being defined as the weight a subject felt he or she ought to weigh, for health. 2. Each subject's report of his desired weight, desired weight being defined as the weight the subject wanted to weigh. 3. Each subject's report of his present weight. 4. Frequency of weighing oneself. Ideals with regard to certain physical characteristics and perceived deviations from them were assessed by means of the following methods: 1. Subjects were asked to indicate whether their ideal body dimensions FALL, 1969