Black/White Differences in Perceived Weight and Attractiveness among Overweight Women

Numerous studies have reported that Black women are more satisfied with their bodies than White women. The buffering hypothesis suggests that aspects of Black culture protect Black women against media ideals that promote a slender female body type; therefore, Black women are expected to exhibit higher body esteem than White women. To test this hypothesis, the current study aimed to assess the influence of race on weight perception, perceived attractiveness, and the interrelations between body mass index (BMI) and perceived attractiveness among overweight and obese women. Participants were 1,694 respondents of Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health ( years). Black ( ) or White ( ) obese or overweight women were included in the current study. As expected, Black women reported lower perceived weight and higher attractiveness than White women, despite higher body mass for Black women. Furthermore, race moderated the relationship between BMI and perceived attractiveness; for White women, a negative relationship existed between BMI and attractiveness, whereas for Black women, BMI and attractiveness were not related. The study findings provide further support for the buffering hypothesis, indicating that despite higher body mass, overweight Black women are less susceptible to thin body ideals than White women. 1. Introduction Black women are at heightened risk for obesity when compared to White women and tend to weigh more than White women on average [1]. Yet, despite higher body mass, research suggests that Black women are more satisfied with their bodies than White women [2]. Furthermore, Black women tend to attribute fewer negative qualities to overweight people than White women [3] and are less likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors to lose weight [4]. Powell and Kahn [5] suggested that Blacks are less susceptible to body dissatisfaction than Whites due to their adherence to cultural ideals that promote a heavier body type and discourage stringent body weight goals, a perspective labeled the buffering hypothesis [6, 7]. Empirical research provides some support for this assertion; on average, Black men prefer a heavier female body weight than White men, and the ideal body weight reported by Black women is higher on average than the ideal reported by White women [2]. Nonetheless, some scholars argue that the discrepancy between Black and White body preference is overstated; for example, a meta-analysis by Grabe and Hyde [6] concluded that though White women were more dissatisfied with their bodies than Blacks, the magnitude