Public Opinion and Weight Action About Diet Nutrition and Physical Activity - Americans Worry About Their Weight

About half of those surveyed by Gallup worry about their weight all of the time (15%) or some of the time (34%), and less than one quarter (22%) said they never worry about their weight. (See Table 11.2.) As expected, adults who described themselves as overweight were much more likely than those who described themselves as about right or underweight to say they worry about their weight all or some of the time. More than two-thirds TABLE 11.2 How often individuals worry about their weight, 1990, 1999, 2005 Joseph Carroll, "How Often Do You Worry about Your Weight? Would You Say You Worry All of the Time, Some of the Time, Not Too Often, or Never?" in Who's Worried About Their Weight? The Gallup Organization, August 9, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=17752&pg=19 (accessed January 14, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.

TABLE 11.2
How often individuals worry about their weight, 1990, 1999, 2005
HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT? WOULD YOU SAY YOU WORRY ALL OF THE TIME, SOME OF THE TIME, NOT TOO OFTEN, OR NEVER?
SOURCE: Joseph Carroll, "How Often Do You Worry about Your Weight? Would You Say You Worry All of the Time, Some of the Time, Not Too Often, or Never?" in Who's Worried About Their Weight? The Gallup Organization, August 9, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=17752&pg=19 (accessed January 14, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.
Date	Allof the time	Some of the time	Not too often	Never
Jul 7-10, 2005	15%	34%	29%	22%
Jul 22-25, 1999	15%	27%	34%	24%
Oct 11-14, 1990	7%	27%	33%	33%

FIGURE 11.8 How often individuals worry about their weight, by whether they consider themselves overweight or not, 2005 Joseph Carroll, "How Often Do You Worry about Your Weight?" in Who's Worried about Their Weight? The Gallup Organization, August 9, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci = 17752&pg=19 (accessed January 14, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.of overweight adults (69%) said they spend time worrying about their weight, compared with a third (33%) of those who said they were about right or underweight. (See Figure 11.8.)

Given American societal pressures for young women to be thin, it is not surprising that younger women (aged eighteen to forty-nine) are much more likely to worry about their weight than are older women (aged fifty and older) or men of any age. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of younger women in the Gallup survey reported worrying about their weight all or some of the time, compared with FIGURE 11.9 How often individuals worried about their weight, by gender and age, 2005 Joseph Carroll, "How Often Do You Worry about Your Weight? By Gender and Age," in Who's Worried about Their Weight? The Gallup Organization, August 9, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=17752&pg=19 (accessed January 14, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.about half (51%) of older women. Among men, 40% of younger men (aged eighteen to forty-nine) and 38% of older men (aged fifty and older) said they worry this often. (See Figure 11.9.)

Thirty-eight percent of those who described their diets as very healthy said they worry all or some of the time about their weight. Among those who described their diets as somewhat healthy, this response rose to 50%, and among those with a poor diet, 59% said they worry. (See Figure 11.10.) Similarly, 39% of those who described their health as excellent said they worry about their weight, compared with 53% of those who reported good health and 53% of those in fair or poor health. (See Figure 11.11.)