Changing body norms in the context of increasing body size

OBJECTIVE: To understand how body size preferences changed in Samoa between 1995 and 2017 to 2019. METHODS: Data were from adults aged from 31 to 59 years, who participated in two separate cross-sectional studies of obesity and cardiometabolic risk conducted in Samoa in 1995 and 2017 to 2019. Participants nominated line drawings representing their current size, ideal size, the most attractive and healthiest size, and the lower/upper limits of "normal" size. RESULTS: In both sexes, body size preferences and perceived current average body size have increased, yet preference for bodies smaller than one's perceived current size has persisted. Furthermore, the range of body sizes that people considered "normal" has narrowed, suggesting decreased tolerance for extremes of body size. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may have implications for mental and physical health outcomes, inform development of future health initiatives, and contribute to a deeper understanding of how body norms and weight-related public health efforts interface

Body weight · Cross-sectional study · Geography · Obesity · Preference · Sociology · Statistics · Demography · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Mathematics · Medicine · Obesity and Health Practices · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Psychology

• Body norms, body image, and media in a market‐integrating indigenous population in Argentina

  Open Access•Katherine Daiy, Tomeka Frieson et al.•American Journal of Human Biology•2023

  Incluir item

• Cross-cultural differences in the perception of female body shapes

  Open Access•A Furnham, Naznin Alibhai•Psychological Medicine•1983

  Incluir item

• How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health

  Open Access•A Janet Tomiyama, Deborah Carr et al.•BMC Medicine•2018

  Incluir item

• An Anthropological Perspective on Obesity

  Open Access•Peter J Brown, Melvin Konner•Annals of the New York Academy of…•1987

  Incluir item

• Obesity stigma as a globalizing health challenge

  Open Access•Alexandra Brewis, Cindi L Sturtzsreetharan et al.•Globalization and Health•2018

  Incluir item

• Lifestyle Incongruity and Adult Blood Pressure in Western Samoa

  Peter Chin‐Hong, Peter V Chin-Hong et al.•Psychosomatic Medicine•1996

  Incluir item

• Everyday translation

  Open Access•J Hardin•Critical Public Health•2014

  Incluir item

• Obesity emergence in the Pacific islands

  Open Access•Amy K Mclennan, Stanley J Ulijaszek et al.•Public Health Nutrition•2015

  Incluir item

• Body size, body norms and some unintended consequences of obesity intervention in the Pacific islands

  Open Access•J Hardin, Amy K Mclennan et al.•Annals of Human Biology•2018

  Incluir item

• The Accuracy of Attractive-Body-Size Judgment

  Alexandra Brewis, Alexandra A Brewis•Current Anthropology•1999

  Incluir item