Previous studies have shown that body esteem, defined as the self-evaluation of one's appearance and body, may be related to physical activity. Given the increasing prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between body esteem and physical activity and to determine if these vary by age or gender among low income, urban African American adolescents. African American adolescents (n=228, 11 – 16 years) were recruited from primary health care and public schools to participate in Challenge!, a randomized controlled trial for health promotion/obesity prevention. At baseline, the adolescents completed the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults, a 23-item, 5-point likert scale (1=least agreement, 5=most agreement) regarding body esteem. There were 3 subscales: Body Appearance, Body Weight, and Body Attribution. The internal consistency of the three scales, measured by coefficient alphas (0.79 for Body Appearance, 0.90 for Body Weight, and 0.67 for Body Attribution) was adequate for Body Appearance and Body Weight. The adolescents wore an Actiwatch accelerometer (Minimitter, Bend, OR) around the right ankle for seven days to record physical activity. Pearson correlations found a significant positive relationship between average daily activity counts and both the Body Appearance (r=.182, p=.006) and Body Weight (r=.137, p=.039) subscales. Multiple linear regression adjusting for age and gender revealed that average daily activity counts were associated with Body Appearance (B= .0683, p=.032). Gender was associated with activity such that boys were more active than girls (B=.0693, p=.030). Gender did not modify the association between Body Appearance and activity. No significant relationships were found between the body esteem constructs of Body Weight and Body Attribution and activity counts. In summary, in this sample of low income, urban African American adolescents, boys are more active than girls and teens who are physically active have higher Body Appearance esteem than less active teens, regardless of gender. Further studies should investigate whether interventions such as Challenge! change an adolescent's body esteem or physical activity levels and if other factors affect body esteem and physical activity. Keyword(s): physical activity, wellness/disease prevention