Purpose: To evaluate Mexican-American adolescents' descriptions of their weight status. Methods: Data were from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted in 1982-1983 among Mexican-Americans in five southwestern states. The current study used data on 429 males and 485 nonpregnant females 12-19 years old. In an interview, participants were asked to describe their weight status (underweight, about the right weight, overweight); in an examination (performed two to four weeks after the interview), weights and heights were measured. Each participant's body-mass index (weight/height2) was calculated, and single year of age-and-sex-specific BMI cutoffs were used to determine each participant's BMI decile. Results: The overweight description was chosen by 46% of females and 23% of males, and the underweight description by 7% of females and 17% of males. The percentage of adolescents self-described as overweight rose with increasing BMI percentile, the rise starting in the 30-39th percentiles for females and in 60-69th percentiles for males. Conclusions: These findings suggest that many Mexican-American adolescents misperceive their weight status.
