An insight into the personal and cultural significance of weight and shape in large Samoan women.

The aim of this work was to investigate the personal and cultural significance of body weight and shape for women in Western Samoan culture. A cross cultural study was carried out of Western Samoan and Australian women comparing responses to the Body Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ). The work was carried out in a tertiary education institution and an occupational setting in Apia, Western Samoa, and on community residents in Adelaide, South Australia. The subjects were 70 volunteer female respondents from Western Samoan educational and occupational settings, individually matched for weight and height with 70 respondents from a South Australian random community setting. The psychometric properties of the BAQ, as completed by the Western Samoan respondents, were found to be similar to those for Australian women. Samoan women who were biologically overweight, felt as fat and had similar feelings about lower body fatness as their identical weight Australian counterparts. They, however, showed highly significantly less salience of fatness than the Australian sample, indicating that fatness is not a pre-occupying in Samoans as it is in Australian women. Despite this apparent non-concern over their fatness, Samoan women were significantly more disparaging about their bodies than their Australian counterparts. The other significant finding from this cross-comparative study, was that large Samoan women felt more attractive and much stronger and fitter than their Australian counterparts. It was concluded that Samoan women's body-related attitudes can be studied using techniques and concepts originating in the west, but the specific concerns of Samoan women need to be explored in further detail.