A COMPARISON STUDY OF UNITED-STATES AND AFRICAN STUDENTS ON PERCEPTIONS OF OBESITY AND THINNESS

There is a negative correlation between body weight and income in the United States, and epidemic numbers of people diet to become thin. In developing nations, on the other hand, there is a positive correlation between weight and income, and fatness is associated with wealth and abundance. Although these differing cross-cultural trends have been do cumented by anthropologists, there has been minimal cross-cultural res earch on attitudes toward obesity and thinness and corresponding dieti ng behaviors in the psychological literature. A sample of 349 students at a university in Ghana and 219 students at a U.S. university comple ted questionnaires about their weight, frequency of dieting and restra ined eating, the degree to which their weight has interfered with soci al activities, their perceptions of ideal bodies, disordered eating, a nd stereotypes of thin and heavy people. Students in Ghana more often rated larger body sizes as ideal for both males and females and also a ssumed that these larger sizes were held as ideals in society, than di d U.S. students. U.S. students (regardless of weight) were more likely to have dieted than were Ghanaian students, with U.S. females being m ost likely to diet, Additionally U.S. females scored significantly hig her on restraint, eating-disordered behavior, and experiencing weight rs social interference. Findings illustrate that perceptions of ideal body size and corresponding behaviors are influenced by culture and ge nder.