These data demonstrate a significant relationship between obesity and changes in self-esteem during early adolescence. Obese white and Hispanic girls demonstrated significantly lower levels of self- esteem by 13 to14 years of age compared with nono- bese white and Hispanic girls. In addition, childhood obesity had a mild effect on self-esteem in young adolescent boys. Because negative weight percep- tions are particularly common among young adoles- cent white females,17–21 it is not surprising that young obese adolescent white females show the lowest lev- els of global self-esteem. Nevertheless, negative per- ceptions of obesity also exist among adolescent boys;17–21 it is, therefore, not surprising that obese adolescent boys demonstrate mildly decreased levels of self-esteem.
In this study, obese white and Hispanic girls had similar changes in self-esteem. Unfortunately, no other study has documented the effects of obesity on self-esteem in Hispanic children. However, data from the 1989 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicate that 37% of white and Hispanic girls consider themselves too fat, compared with only 25% of black girls.18 Similar weight concerns among His- panic and white girls also were demonstrated in the Minnesota high school health survey.22 In ad- dition, data from the 1985 National Health Inter- view Survey also demonstrate similar weight per- ceptions and dieting patterns among adult white and Hispanic women.23 Data from the San Antonio Heart Study shows that Hispanics’ perceptions about weight and obesity is influenced strongly by the degree of acculturation. Hispanic men and women in transitional suburbs demonstrated con- siderably less weight concerns and dieting behav- iors, compared with whites in the same suburbs. In contrast, Hispanic men and women living in afflu-