COMPARISON OF ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS RELATED TO NUTRITION, BODY-SIZE, DIETING, AND HUNGER IN RUSSIAN, BLACK-AMERICAN, AND WHITE-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

Attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition are known to differ betwe en white-American and black-American adolescents, however, little is k nown about teenagers from Russia. We hypothesized that, compared with white-American or black-American teenagers, Russian teenagers would pr efer a larger body size, be less likely to diet, and be less concerned about being overweight. Self-administered questionnaires were complet ed by 196 students in Moscow, 326 white-American, and 239 black-Americ an adolescents who attended school in North Carolina (mean age = 16). Ideal body mass index (BMI) was calculated from measured height and th e response to the question, ''What do you consider to be your ideal we ight?'' Mean ideal BMI was higher in black-American boys (25.1) and gi rls (21.4) than in white-American boys (22.1) and girls (19.2), and Ru ssian boys (21.8) and girls (19.1). After controlling for BMI, black-A merican girls were less than half as likely to report dieting compared with white-American girls. There were no significant differences amon g white-American girls and Russian girls, and there were no ethnic dif ferences between boys in the prevalence of dieting. White-American gir ls and black-American girls were much more likely to identify being ov erweight as an important nutritional concern than were Russian girls ( odds ratios >10), and there were no ethnic differences among boys. We conclude that preferences for body size, the prevalence of dieting, an d concerns about being overweight were similar in Russian and white-Am erican teens, with the exception of Russian teenaged girls who were le ss likely than American girls to identify being overweight as an impor tant concern. Overall, weight-related attitudes and behaviors in Russi an teenagers were more similar to those of white-American teenagers th an those of black-American teenagers.