In a study of eating disorders in female adolescents, Gross (1985) asked each of her participants 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 “overweight.”)

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?