Becoming Overweight without Gaining a Pound: Weight Evaluations and the Social Integration of M exicans in the U nited S tates

M exican women gain weight with increasing duration in the U nited S tates. In the U nited S tates, body dissatisfaction tends to be associated with depression, disordered eating, and incongruent weight evaluations, particularly among white women and women of higher socioeconomic status. However, it remains unclear how being overweight and obesity are interpreted by M exican women. Using comparable data of women aged 20–64 from both M exico (the 2006 E ncuesta N acional de S alud y N utricion; N  = 17,012) and the U nited S tates (the 1999–2009 N ational H ealth and N utrition E xamination S urveys; N  = 8,487), we compare weight status evaluations among M exican nationals, M exican immigrants, US ‐born M exicans, US ‐born non‐ H ispanic whites, and US ‐born non‐ H ispanic blacks. Logistic regression analyses, which control for demographic and socioeconomic variables and measured body mass index and adjust for the likelihood of migration for M exican nationals, indicate that the tendency to self‐evaluate as overweight among M exicans converges with levels among non‐ H ispanic whites and diverges from blacks over time in the U nited S tates. Overall, the results suggest a US integration process in which M exican‐ A merican women's less critical self‐evaluations originate in M exico but fade with time in the U nited S tates as they gradually adopt US white norms for thinner body sizes. These results are discussed in light of prior research about social comparison and negative health assimilation.