In a study of eating disorders in female adolescents, Gross (1985) asked each of her par- ticipants whether they would prefer to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain their current weight. (Note: Only 12% of the girls in Gross's sample were actually more than 15% above what normative tables say they should weigh, a common cutoff for a label of "over- weight.") When she broke down the data for girls by race (African-American versus white), she obtained the following results. (Other races have been omitted because of small sample sizes.)
|
|
Reducers
|
Maintainers
|
Gainers
|
Total
|
|
White
|
352
|
152
|
31
|
535
|
|
African-American
|
47
|
28
|
24
|
99
|
|
Total
|
399
|
180
|
55
|
634
|
(a) What conclusions can you draw from these data?
(b) Ignoring race, what conclusions can you draw about adolescent girls' attitudes toward their own weight?