PEER ACCEPTANCE OF OBESE YOUTH - A WAY TO IMPROVE WEIGHT CONTROL EFFORTS

Not all young people who are overweight are stigmatized, and most over weight youth have a small group of their own friends. Perceptions and attitudes of average weight youth toward overweight peers were investi gated to learn how obesity might stigmatize adolescents. A qualitative approach was used to capture youth's attitudes in-depth and to avoid ''silly'' responses to this sensitive topic. Youth (n = 56), ages 11-1 5 years, were paid $5.00 each upon completion of private interviews. P articipants responded to open-ended questions about how they defined o verweight; characteristics of their overweight friends versus overweig ht youth they did not know; and the popularity of overweight adolescen ts. Code words and guidelines were developed using the grounded theory approach. Transcripts were coded and analyzed for common themes by co des using the Ethnograph software. Youth called ''fat'' were stigmatiz ed; but ''friends'' and popular overweight youth were seen as friendly , pleasant to be around, helpful, good in sports and knew how to handl e teasing.