Over, Under, or About Right: Misperceptions of Body Weight Among Food Stamp Participants

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the associations between misperception of body weight and sociodemographic factors such as food stamp participation status, income, education, and race/ethnicity. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999-2004 and multivariate logistic regression are used to estimate how sociodemographic factors are associated with (i) the probability that overweight adults misperceive themselves as healthy weight; (ii) the probability that healthy-weight adults misperceive themselves as underweight; and (iii) the probability that healthy-weight adults misperceive themselves as overweight. NHANES data are representative of the US civilian noninstitutionalized population. The analysis included 4,362 men and 4,057 women. BMI derived from measured weight and height was used to classify individuals as healthy weight or overweight. These classifications were compared with self-reported categorical weight status. We find that differences across sociodemographic characteristics in the propensity to underestimate or overestimate weight status were more pronounced for women than for men. Overweight female food stamp participants were more likely to underestimate weight status than income-eligible nonparticipants. Among healthy-weight and overweight women, non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American women, and women with less education were more likely to underestimate actual weight status. We found few differences across sociodemographic characteristics for men. Misperceptions of weight are common among both overweight and healthy-weight individuals and vary across socioeconomic and demographic groups. The nutrition education component of the Food Stamp Program could increase awareness of healthy body weight among participants.

From “Overweight” to “About Right”: Evidence of a Generational Shift in Body Weight Norms

“…We divide age into six discrete categories: 17-19, 20-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, and 56-74. 8 In an initial set of regressions we estimate the models separately for men and women. When we test for reference-group effects, we pool the data but still allow for gender-specific effects, for reasons discussed below.…”

“…articles nature publishing group epidemiology IntroductIon A significant share of overweight and obese individuals perceive their body weight to be either "about right, " "appropriate, " or "acceptable, " or express satisfaction with their body size (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Misperception of overweight status is more prevalent among individuals with low socioeconomic status, among African Americans, and among men compared with high SES individuals, white (non-Hispanic) Americans, and women, respectively (7,9).…”

Overweight and obese midlife women in Israel: cultural differences in perceived weight status

“…Previous epidemiologic reports have documented WSMP among overweight/obese individuals from different socio-demographic backgrounds (Chang and Christakis 2001;Gregory et al 2008;Johnson-Taylor et al 2008;Kuchler and Variyam 2003;Miller et al 2008;Paeratakul et al 2002;Ver Ploeg et al 2008). These reports, which have mainly been conducted in the USA, show that WSMP is prevalent in as many as 38 % of overweight and 8 % of obese adults (Dorsey et al 2009).…”

Has Overweight Become the New Normal?: Evidence of a Generational Shift in Body Weight Norms

“…12 Ver Ploeg, Chang, and Lin (2008) suggest omitting individuals who are objectively underweight (BMI<18.5 for adults) from analysis of overweight self-classification. We find that our results are not significantly different depending on whether such individuals are included or omitted, and all results shown here include underweight individuals.…”