Etiology of Nigerian adolescents' perception of their weight.

Abstract

A cultural expectation of society is the importance associated with being physically attractive (1). In Nigeria, physical attractiveness is defined by Yoruba adolescents as being thin, whereas obesity is viewed negatively and stereotyped as greedy, selfish, lazy and dumb (2). Physical appearance and weight control are of major concern for many adolescents. Previous research (1, 4) has indicated that adolescents may have misconceived beliefs about their physique and weight, which might negatively influence their self-concepts. It has been argued that adolescents' concepts of personal control could influence their success in weight-control programs (3), but results are inconclusive whether sex dfferences in adolescents' actual and perceived weights may be related to their weight locus of control orientations. This relationship was tested for 186 Yoruba boys (M age 15.8 yr., SD = 1.6) and 118 girls (M age 16.2 yr., SD = 1.3) who were randomly selected from three secondary schools in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Subjects responded to a 15-item questionnaire which included the Weight Locus of Control Scale (3). Their actual weights were classified as thin, normal or heavy as previously described (1). Analysis indicated negative Pearson correlations (boys: r = -0.21, p< .01; girls: r= -0.15, p<.05) of subjects' ratings of self-perceived weight (boys: M = 3.29, SD = 1.7; girls: M = 3.32, SD = 1.9) with objective weight (boys: M = 46.5, SD = 9.3; girls: M = 52.4, SD = 7.1). The boys were more likely to perceive themselves as normal (63%) or thin (32%). The girls judged themselves as heavy (43%) or normal (32%) even though 13% of them were actually heavy. In conti-ast to the boys, the attributed their perceived over-weight to heredity (F= 3.82, p<.05) and external locus of control factors (F= 4.32, p<.01). Adolescent girls were more likely to hold erroneous beliefs about their weight than the boys.