The study had four specific aims: (1) to identify subgroups at high risk of overweight based on sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., ethnicity and SES): (2a) to determine whether distinct clusters of weight perceptions and behaviors exist among overweight adults and (2b) to determine whether the clusters differ by sociodemographic characteristics; (3) to determine whether clusters in the overweight sample exist among normal-weight adults, and (4) to propose tailored weight-loss interventions to be tested empirically in the future. Data were analyzed, by gender, for 3203 Black, 2989 Mexican-American, and 3761 white men and women, ages 25-64, who participated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-1994). This national survey of the United States population over-sampled by the two largest ethnic minorities, Blacks and Mexican-Americans, and provided sufficient sample sizes at the extremes of SES.