Teenagers' perceptions of fat and slim people

One-hundred and thirty-eight 16-year-olds rated each of six stimulus figures: 'Fat young man', 'Fat young woman', 'Slim young man', 'Slim young woman', 'Me now', 'Me as I would like to be', on 28 seven-point personal rating scales. Principal component analyses derived one major and two minor components. Inspection of the major General evaluation component showed that the fat figures were negatively evaluated, and the slim figures positively evaluated. The students perceived themselves to be between these two extremes, but aspired more towards the slim figures. Differences between the perceptions of male female subjects and between those of Australian and European migrant parentage were also observed, particularly in relation to the minor components. The results indicate that stereotypes of obese and slim individuals are related to the sex, ethnicity and self-concepts of the perceiver.