Physical, behavioral, and body image characteristics in a tri-racial group of adolescent girls

Physical, behavioral, and body image characteristics in a tri-racial group of adolescent girls

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate physical characteristics, nutrient intake, physical activity level, and body image in white (CC), African‐American (AA), and Hispanic‐American (HA) female adolescents. Research Methods and Procedures: High school volunteers were solicited for thi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 12; no. 10; pp. 1670 - 1679
Main Authors: Perry, A.C, Rosenblatt, E.B, Wang, X
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-10-2004
Subjects:
Adipose Tissue - metabolism
adiposity
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior
adolescents
African Americans
Blacks
Blood Pressure
body fat
body fat distribution
Body Image
body mass index
body weight
Energy Intake - physiology
ethnicity
European Continental Ancestry Group
Exercise - physiology
Female
females
Health Promotion
heart rate
Hispanic Americans
Hispanics
household income
Humans
Hypertension - epidemiology
Hypertension - ethnology
Minority Groups - psychology
nutrient intake
Obesity - epidemiology
Obesity - ethnology
physical activity
Whites
United States
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate physical characteristics, nutrient intake, physical activity level, and body image in white (CC), African‐American (AA), and Hispanic‐American (HA) female adolescents. Research Methods and Procedures: High school volunteers were solicited for this study. Self‐reported information was used to determine subject characteristics, family income, physical activity, body image, and nutrient intake. Physical evaluations were used to determine body mass index, percent body fat, fat distribution, resting heart rate, and blood pressure (BP). Results: Results showed that AA girls displayed significantly higher diastolic BP than HA girls (p = 0.029). CC adolescents showed greater physical activity (p = 0.010) and lower adiposity than HA adolescents (p = 0.048), as well as lower subscapular skinfold than AA adolescents (p = 0.018). AA adolescents selected a higher ideal body size than CC girls (p = 0.038). There was also a significant difference in percentage carbohydrates (p < 0.034) and cholesterol consumed (p < 0.016) among groups, with CC girls showing the highest values for carbohydrates and lowest values for cholesterol intake among groups. Discussion: Given our findings of higher adiposity and lower physical activity levels in HA adolescents and greater diastolic BP levels and subscapular skinfold in AA adolescents, more interventions should be targeted toward improving health‐related variables among minority populations.
Bibliography:The costs of publication of this article were defrayed, in part, by the payment of page charges. This article must, therefore, be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:1071-7323
1930-7381
1550-8528
1930-739X
DOI:10.1038/oby.2004.207