Background and Objectives: Without appropriate medical weight problem diagnosis, minority women might have inaccurate views of their weight status. It is likely that receiving an obesity diagnosis from a physician will raise women’s awareness of their weight status and increase their desire or intent to control their weight. This study assessed: (1) the unique and combined contribution of medical weight diagnosis to desire to be thinner among minority women with overweight/obesity; (2) to what extent ethnicity/race moderated the relation of medical weight problem diagnosis to desire to be thinner; and 3) ethnic/racial differences in perceived and ideal body size, and body dissatisfaction among minority women. Methods: 366 Hispanic and 111 African American women with a mean age of 43.7 years (SD=15.9 years) completed a self-report health survey and figure rating scale. Results: Only 34.1% women reported having received a medical weight problem diagnosis in the past 12 months. Women with obesity (35.4%) were more likely to have received a medical weight problem diagnosis than women with overweight (11.8%) (p
