Beliefs about obesity: effects of age, ethnicity, sex and weight

Do Parents Discriminate Against their Heavyweight Daughters?

In a 1991 study, the author found that females were less likely to receive support from their parents for college education if they were fatter than average. This effect is replicated for female undergraduates (n = 576); no effect emerged for males (n = 450). Controlling for income, ethnicity, family size, and number of children attending college did not change the results. The selection bias against fat women was strongest for daughters of political conservatives, a group previously found to endorse antifat attitudes. This suggests that parents' attitudes may lead to discrimination within families. To demonstrate that this may be due to parents' bias, data from a representative sample of high school seniors (n = 3,386) showed no association between politics, weight, and predictors of college attendance, including grade point average, self-rated intelligence and ability, college aspirations, and health. The evidence accumulates that parents are discriminating against their own heavyweight daughters.

Body size matters in provision of help: factors related to children's willingness to help overweight peers

Although children who are overweight may be vulnerable to negative social experiences, little is known about whether children will offer help to peers who are overweight. The present study examined whether children would offer aid to peers who are overweight with everyday tasks (such as picking up toys). This study also examined whether weight stereotypes and intentions to befriend these peers are related to intentions to help. Fifty-one children, aged 4-8, were interviewed about their stereotypes and behavioral intentions. Findings revealed that children were less likely to help overweight than average weight peers. Children who did not hold positive stereotypes about thinness and those who chose to play with overweight peers were more likely to help peers who are overweight. Results suggest that weight prejudice is pervasive and that children who are overweight might not be offered aid in classroom settings, highlighting the need for early intervention.

Development of weight and shape concerns in the aetiology of eating disorders

BACKGROUND

Although weight and shape concerns are considered to be integral to the psychopathology of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, uncertainties remain about developmental aspects of the aetiology of these concerns and their relationship to eating disorders.

AIMS

To review the recent literature on weight and shape concern, with particular emphasis on aetiology, to identify a possible developmental pathway from weight concern through abnormal eating behaviour to disorder.

METHOD

Literature review of Medline and Psychlit databases using the keywords 'eating disorder', 'weight concern', 'shape concern' and 'aetiology'. Inclusion criteria were based on the strength of quantitative research findings, originality of ideas and recent publication.

RESULTS

Weight and shape concerns follow a developmental pathway arising before the typical age for the development of eating disorders. The origins are multifactorial, with biological, family and sociocultural features predominating.

CONCLUSIONS

Although weight and shape concern seems commonly to underlie the development of eating disorders, an alternative pathway appears to exist through impulsivity and fear of loss of control. Prevention strategies may usefully focus on the attitudes and concerns that lead to dieting behaviour.

Perception of parental acceptance in women with binge eating disorder

The authors contribute to the validating literature for binge eating disorder (BED) by examining perceptions of parents and satisfaction with life among obese women with and without BED. Participants were female patients, recruited through a private medical clinic, who were assigned to groups on the basis of body mass index (BMI) and scores on the Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns (QEWP; R. L. Spitzer et al., 1992). Groups consisted of (a) obese women with BED (n = 32), (b) obese women who had no eating disorders (n = 51), and (c) nonobese women with no eating disorders (n = 30). All participants completed the Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ; R. P. Rohner, 1986), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; J. Fischer & K. Corcoran, 1994), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987). Obese women with BED perceived their fathers as more rejecting than did women in the other groups. Moreover, obese women with BED perceived their fathers as significantly more rejecting than their mothers. The BED group indicated lower satisfaction with life and higher levels of depression than the groups without eating disorders. These findings further validate the diagnostic category of BED. Obese women with BED appear to be a distinct subgroup of the obese population. The results indicate a need for further assessment of the father-daughter relationship in connection to BED and other eating disorders.

Perceived stigmatization among overweight African-American and Caucasian adolescent girls

PURPOSE

To explore how African-American and Caucasian adolescent girls describe weight-related stigmatization experiences and their responses to these experiences.

METHODOLOGY

Fifty girls from five urban Midwest high schools participated in the study (mean age 16.1 years, mean body mass index 33.6). The girls participated in clinical research interviews, which were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded.

RESULTS

All but two of the participants described stigmatizing experiences, the most frequently reported of which were direct and intentional, such as name calling and teasing. Hurtful comments and behaviors by family members and peers which appeared to be less intentional were also described by study participants. Responses to these experiences varied both within and across interviews and included ignoring or attempting to ignore hurtful experiences, feeling hurt, and getting mad.

CONCLUSIONS

The results stress the importance of discussing issues of stigmatization and responses to these hurtful experiences with overweight youth within clinical and educational settings. Furthermore, family members, teachers, and nonoverweight peers need to increase their awareness of the impact of their remarks on and behavior toward overweight youth within a society that values thinness.

Psychological characteristics of binging and nonbinging obese women

A representative sample from a nonclinical population was drawn to compare bingers and nonbingers across weight categories. Subjects were 112 women drawn from a cross-section of undergraduate classes at a large state university. Four groups were formed: obese bingers, obese nonbingers, normal-weight bingers (bulimics), and normal-weight nonbingers. Bingers, regardless of weight category, suffered higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem than nonbingers, regardless of weight category. Obese nonbingers were indistinguishable on these variables from normal-weight nonbingers, with both groups of nonbingers experiencing less emotional distress. Results support the position that the obese population should be conceptualized and treated as a diverse group with different psychological characteristics and needs.

Overcoming 'psychosomatic' illness: lay attributions of cure for five possible psychosomatic illnesses

This semi-replicative study was concerned with lay people's beliefs about the importance of 24 different contributors towards overcoming five relatively common illnesses: hypertension, peptic ulcers, asthma, dermatitis and migraine. These illnesses have frequently been regarded as psychosomatic although there is considerable debate as to whether this is so. One hundred subjects completed a 5-page questionnaire indicating how effective 24 factors were to overcoming the five specified illnesses. Factor analysis revealed almost identical clusters for each problem. These were labelled inner control, social consequences, fate, understanding and receiving help. Items clustering on the first and latter two factors were thought of as generally important and those on fate and, to a lesser extent, understanding, less important, although the perceived relevance of the second and third factors differed significantly between problems. Regressional analysis showed that various individual difference factors, age and sex in particular, were related to perceived relevance of the different contributors. The results were discussed in terms of subjects' beliefs concerning the value of self reliance as opposed to professional help, and the importance of understanding lay beliefs about the efficacy of different cures. Comparisons are made with four other studies using basically the same methodology.

Accuracy of self-reported body weight compared to measured body weight. A population survey

In 1977, in the evaluation of the prevention programme for cardiovascular diseases, 11,880 persons in Eastern Finland were asked to report their own weight on a questionnaire. Each participant was weighted during the following clinical examination. The data of the self-reported body weight were analysed according to sex, age, measured weight and body-mass index (BMI). The results showed that older people underestimated their weight to a greater extent than did younger people of both sexes. The error between measured and self-reported weight was greater in heavier subjects than in thinner individuals. In both sexes weight estimate error (measured weight minus self-reported weight) correlated more strongly with high BMI than with measured weight. Associations between weight estimate error and other variables were studied using a multiple regression model. Men whose annual family income was low were more likely to underestimate their weight than the men with a high annual income. In general, women reported their weight more correctly than men did. Older women were more likely to report their weight less than younger women, whereas women who visited their doctor frequently or who had higher annual family incomes were more aware of their actual body weight than those who had few doctor's consultations or whose family income was low. In men 5.2% and in women 8.3% of the variation in the weight estimate error was explained by the regression model.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Perceptions of body size and obesity: a selected review of the literature

In this article, the literature on body image and related obesity perceptions is discussed. Research findings which span a 20 year period are summarized. Initially, Cheryl Rittenbaugh's concept of obesity as 'a culture bound syndrome' serves as a rationale for understanding sociocultural dimensions of body size perceptions. In this regard, the premise that perceptions of obesity and overweight have cultural determinants is substantiated in the reviewed literature. Societal preferences for body build and size and attitudes about weight are examined as a framework for understanding the impact that social perceptions have on individuals who are either overweight or obese. As a result of negative attitudes toward fatness, stigmatization of overweight people has been consistently documented. In related studies, investigators have centered on self-perceptions of obese and overweight individuals. According to the data, the existence of body image disturbance among extremely overweight individuals is a common phenomenon. However, evidence is also presented that suggests that normal weight individuals (especially women) may also have difficulty in accurately assessing their body size. The final focus of this paper is the relationship between body image and weight change behavior. As indicated in the discussion, this area of research has received the least amount of attention in the literature, and the present findings are contradictory. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research directions.

The dieting and body shape concerns of adolescent females

This study set out to examine dietary and body shape concerns of four age groups (12-18 yr) of British female adolescents in order to compare current findings with previous results. Although less than 4% were overweight as measured by standard tables, over 10 times this number considered themselves overweight. Approximately half desired to alter their weight and considered various ways of doing so. The subjects' shape related directly to the subjects' desire to alter body shape, particularly in the oldest group. These results are discussed in terms on the literature on the development of an idea of ideal body shape, increasing interest in exercise and previous research in the area.