Scale
Body Norms and Fat Stigma in Global Perspective
Alexandra Brewis et al.
Current Anthropology, April 2011, Pages 269-276
Abstract:
While slim-body ideals have spread globally in the last several decades, we know comparatively little of any concurrent proliferation of fat-stigmatizing beliefs. Using cultural surveys and body mass estimates collected from 680 adults from urban areas in 10 countries and territories, we test for cultural variation in how people conceptualize and stigmatize excess weight and obesity. Using consensus analysis of belief statements about obese and fat bodies, we find evidence of a shared model of obesity that transcends populations and includes traditionally fat-positive societies. Elements include the recognition of obesity as a disease, the role of individual responsibility in weight gain and loss, and the social undesirability of fat but also the inappropriateness of open prejudice against fat. Focusing on statements about fat that are explicitly stigmatizing, we find most of these expressed in the middle-income and developing-country samples. Results suggest a profound global diffusion of negative ideas about obesity. Given the moral attributions embedded in these now shared ideas about fat bodies, a globalization of body norms and fat stigma, not just of obesity itself, appears to be well under way, and it has the potential to proliferate associated prejudice and suffering.
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Tricky treats: Paradoxical effects of temptation strength on self-regulation processes
Floor Kroese, Catharine Evers & Denise De Ridder
European Journal of Social Psychology, April 2011, Pages 281-288
Abstract:
This series of studies examined the effect of temptation strength on self-regulation processes in the context of eating behavior. Based on the critical level model, it was hypothesized that weak, rather than strong, temptations yield the most unfavorable conditions for effective self-regulation, because the negative consequences of the former are underestimated. In line with the assumptions of this model, Studies 1 and 2 showed that weak temptations inhibited the mental accessibility of the weight watching goal, in contrast to strong temptations. Study 3 showed that exposure to weak temptations lead to higher consumption in comparison to exposure to strong temptations. It is concluded that weak temptations, as compared to strong temptations, have an inhibiting effect on self-regulation processes and may therefore form a bigger threat for long-term goal attainment.
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Obesity in the News: Do Photographic Images of Obese Persons Influence Antifat Attitudes?
Kimberly McClure, Rebecca Puhl & Chelsea Heuer
Journal of Health Communication, Spring 2011, Pages 359-371
Abstract:
News coverage of obesity has increased dramatically in recent years, and research shows that media content may contribute to negative public attitudes toward obese people. However, no work has assessed whether photographic portrayals of obese people that accompany news stories affect attitudes. In the present study, the authors used a randomized experimental design to test whether viewing photographic portrayals of an obese person in a stereotypical or unflattering way (versus a nonstereotypical or flattering portrayal) could increase negative attitudes about obesity, even when the content of an accompanying news story is neutral. The authors randomly assigned 188 adult participants to read a neutral news story about the prevalence of obesity that was paired with 1 of 4 photographic portrayals of an obese adult (or no photograph). The authors subsequently assessed attitudes toward obese people using the Fat Phobia Scale. Participants in all conditions expressed a moderate level of fat phobia (M = 3.83, SD = 0.58). Results indicated that participants who viewed the negative photographs expressed more negative attitudes toward obese people than did those who viewed the positive photographs. Implications of these findings for the media are discussed, with emphasis on increasing awareness of weight bias in health communication and journalistic news reporting.
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Are neighborhood education levels associated with BMI among adults in Cairo, Egypt?
Mona Mowafi et al.
Social Science & Medicine, April 2011, Pages 1274-1283
Abstract:
This study examined the association between area-level education and BMI among adults in Cairo, Egypt. A sample of 3993 households including 1990 men and 2003 women were analyzed from the 2007 Cairo Urban Inequity Study, a study which aimed to identify potential intra-urban inequities in health related to the environment and living conditions in Cairo. Using multilevel analysis, we found that residents of high education neighborhoods were significantly less likely to be obese compared to low education neighborhoods. An inverse association between neighborhood education and individual BMI was observed whereby each unit increase in percentage of households with greater than a high school education was associated with a 0.036 kg/m2 decrease in BMI of individuals. This translated into a difference between high and low education neighborhoods of 6.86 kg (15.1 lb) for women based on an average height of 1.65 m and 6.10 kg (13.4 lb) for men based on an average height of 1.75 m after adjusting for sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health and environmental factors. These findings suggest that programs aiming to reduce BMI among adults in this setting may be well-served by focusing on education since it appears to have an effect at the neighborhood level over and above the impact it has at the individual level. This may be due to several factors such as greater access to knowledge and information regarding health and nutrition, greater food availability, and shifting cultural perceptions of beauty away from an ideal body shape of plumpness in favor of thinness in high education neighborhoods. The cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow for causal interpretations, however, so further studies exploring why the neighborhood education-BMI association is so significant is warranted.
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John Komlos & Marek Brabec
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
We estimate trends in BMI values by deciles of the US adult population by birth cohorts 1882-1986 stratified by ethnicity and gender. The highest decile increased by some 18 to 22 BMI units in the course of the century while the lowest ones increased by merely 1 to 3 BMI units. For example, a typical African American woman in the 10th percentile and 64 in. (162.6 cm) tall increased in weight by just 12 pounds (5 kg) whereas in the 90th percentile her weight would have increased by 128 pounds (58 kg). Hence, the BMI distribution became increasingly right skewed as the distance between the deciles increased considerably. The rate of change of the BMI decile curves varied greatly over time and across gender and ethnicity. The BMI deciles of white men and women experienced upswings after the two world wars and downswings during the Great Depression and also decelerated after 1970. However, among African Americans the pattern is different during the first half of the century with men's rate of increase in BMI values decreasing substantially and that of females remaining constant at a relatively high level until the Second World War. After the war, though, the rate of change of BMI values of blacks came to resemble that of whites with an accelerating phase followed by a slowdown around the 1970s.
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How to lose weight bias fast! Evaluating a brief anti-weight bias intervention
Phillippa Diedrichs & Fiona Kate Barlow
British Journal of Health Psychology, forthcoming
Objectives: Although experiencing weight bias is associated with poor physical and psychological health, health professionals often stigmatize overweight and obese clients. The objective of this study was to evaluate a brief educational intervention that aimed to reduce weight bias among Australian pre-service health students by challenging beliefs about the controllability of weight.
Design: Non-equivalent group comparison trial.
Methods: Undergraduate psychology students were assigned to an intervention (n= 30), control (n= 35), or comparison (n= 20) condition. The intervention condition received a lecture on obesity, weight bias, and the multiple determinants of weight; the comparison condition received a lecture on obesity and the behavioural determinants of weight; and the control condition received no lecture. Beliefs about the controllability of weight and attitudes towards overweight and obese people were assessed 1 week pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 3 weeks post-intervention.
Results: After receiving the lecture, participants in the intervention group were less likely to believe that weight is solely within individual control and were also less likely to hold negative attitudes towards overweight and obese people and rate them as unattractive. These changes were maintained 3 weeks post-intervention. There were no such changes in the control or comparison groups. Disparagement of overweight and obese peoples' social character increased over time for participants in the control condition but did not change in the comparison or intervention groups.
Conclusions: This study provides evidence that brief, education-based anti-weight bias interventions show success in challenging weight controllability beliefs and reducing weight bias among pre-service health students.
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Prevalence and Predictors of Food Insecurity in Migrant Farmworkers in Georgia
Brittany Hill et al.
American Journal of Public Health, May 2011, Pages 831-833
Abstract:
We examined the prevalence of food insecurity in migrant farmworkers in Georgia. Of these workers 62.83% did not have enough food, and non-H-2A workers had an adjusted risk of food insecurity almost 3 times higher than did H-2A workers. Lack of access to cooking facilities, transportation problems, and having children were additional risk factors. Migrant farmworkers are at extreme risk for food insecurity, although being an H-2A guestworker was protective within this population. Policy interventions are needed to protect these vulnerable farmworkers.
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Captive Audience? Strategies for Acquiring Food in Two Detroit Neighborhoods
Daniel Rose
Qualitative Health Research, May 2011, Pages 642-651
Abstract:
Research has shown elevated rates of diet-related health problems in Detroit, Michigan compared to state and national averages. Using 47 in-depth interviews of African American residents in two Detroit neighborhoods, I examine the interplay between agency and social structure in food acquisition. Participants discussed numerous difficulties obtaining food, including availability, cost, quality, and accessibility. Residents employed many strategies to address these issues, including carefully examining food before purchase, sharing transportation to leave the neighborhood, and using multiple sources. However, the potential to pursue food acquisition strategies varied, in part, according to community contextual factors, including resident concerns about safety, the availability of food banks, and resources in surrounding areas. Nutritional knowledge among participants was sophisticated, suggesting that health education efforts, as opposed to addressing lack of access to high-quality food, might be misguided. I found that accounting for both agency and structural context aids in understanding diet-related behaviors.
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Owen Carter et al.
Social Science & Medicine, March 2011, Pages 962-968
Abstract:
Evidence suggests that until 8 years of age most children are cognitively incapable of appreciating the commercial purpose of television advertising and are particularly vulnerable to its persuasive techniques. After this age most children begin to describe the ‘selling' intent of advertising and it is widely assumed this equips them with sufficient cognitive defences to protect against advertisers' persuasion attempts. However, much of the previous literature has been criticised for failing to differentiate between children's awareness of ‘selling' versus ‘persuasive' intent, the latter representing a more sophisticated understanding and superior cognitive defence. Unfortunately there is little literature to suggest at what age awareness of ‘persuasive intent' emerges; our aim was to address this important issue. Children (n = 594) were recruited from each grade from Pre-primary (4-5 years) to Grade 7 (11-12 years) from ten primary schools in Perth, Western Australia and exposed to a McDonald's television advertisement. Understanding the purpose of television advertising was assessed both nonverbally (picture indication) and verbally (small discussion groups of 3-4), with particular distinction made between selling versus persuasive intent. Consistent with previous literature, a majority of children described the ‘selling' intent of television advertising by 7-8 years both nonverbally and verbally, increasing to 90% by 11-12 years. Awareness of ‘persuasive' intent emerged slowly as a function of age but even by our oldest age-group was only 40%. Vulnerability to television advertising may persist until children are far older than previously thought. These findings have important implications regarding the debate surrounding regulation of junk food (and other) advertising aimed at children.
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Stephen Haas et al.
New Media & Society, February 2011, Pages 40-57
Abstract:
The pro-anorexia movement provides support for those with anorexia and adopts an ‘anti-recovery' view of the disease.The internet has allowed pro-anorexia followers (proanas) to exchange messages in anonymous virtual communities where they encourage one another to be thin. Through the analysis of pro-ana websites using grounded theory, four themes encompassing eight communicative strategies were identified: 1) co-constructing an ana personal identity; 2) self-loathing ana; 3) advising ana; and, 4) group ana encouragement. An emergent grounded model explicates underlying theoretical principles that indicate a new type of social support group, the Online Negative Enabling Support Group (ONESG), in which members encourage negative or harmful behaviors, accept ‘self' or ‘other' negative messages without correction from others and co-construct an affectionate ‘enabling in-group' that evolves online ‘weak-tie' support into ‘strong ties' used to combat stigma in their offline world.
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H.R. George et al.
British Journal of Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Attentional biases may influence the eye-movements made when judging bodies and so alter the visual information sampled when making a judgment. This may lead to an overestimation of body size. We measured the eye-movements made by 16 anorexic observers and 16 age-matched controls when judging body size and attractiveness. We combined behavioural data with a novel eye-movement analysis technique that allowed us to apply spatial statistical techniques to make fine spatial discriminations in the pattern of eye-movements between our observer groups. Our behavioural results show that anorexic observers overestimate body size relative to controls and find bodies with lower body mass indexes more attractive. For both judgments, the controls' fixations centre on the stomach, but the anorexic observers show a much wider fixation pattern extending to encompass additional features such as the prominence of the hip and collar bones. This additional visual information may serve to alter their behavioural judgments towards an overestimation of body size and shift their ideal body size towards a significantly lower value.
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How boys grow determines how long they live
David Barker et al.
American Journal of Human Biology, May 2011, Pages 412-416
Objectives: Increase in height in modern societies has been accompanied by an in increase in lifespan. The longer lives of taller people suggest that good nutrition during childhood, together with freedom from recurrent minor infection, prolong human life. There is, however, a caveat. Tall adult stature may be the result of rapid "compensatory" growth following a setback. Compensatory growth is known to reduce the lifespan of animals, possibly because it is disorganized.
Methods: We analyzed lifespan among 6,975 men born in Helsinki, Finland, during 1934-44. Their early growth was recorded.
Results: Boys who were tallest at seven years of age had lower all cause mortality, the hazard ratio being 0.79(95%CI 0.70 to 0.89, P < 0.0001) per 10 cm increase in height. There was, however, a group of boys among whom being tall was associated with increased all cause mortality, the hazard ratio being 1.32(1.00 to 1.75, P = 0.05). These boys were taller at seven years than their birthweight and length at birth predicted. After they were excluded from the analysis, boys who were more than 126 cm in height at seven lived for eight years longer than those who were 114 cm or less. This increase in lifespan was similar to the effect of high socio-economic status in adult life.
Conclusions: Rapid growth in childhood height usually predicts a longer life. But tallness among men may be a misleading indicator of wellbeing and longer life expectancy in populations where compensatory growth is widespread. African Americans may be an example.
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Epigenetic Gene Promoter Methylation at Birth Is Associated With Child's Later Adiposity
Keith Godfrey et al.
Diabetes, forthcoming
Objective: Fixed genomic variation explains only a small proportion of the risk of adiposity. In animal models, maternal diet alters offspring body composition, accompanied by epigenetic changes in metabolic control genes. Little is known about whether such processes operate in humans.
Research Design and Methods: Using Sequenom MassARRAY we measured the methylation status of 68 CpGs 5′ from five candidate genes in umbilical cord tissue DNA from healthy neonates. Methylation varied greatly at particular CpGs: for 31 CpGs with median methylation ≥5% and a 5-95% range ≥10% we related methylation status to maternal pregnancy diet and to child's adiposity at age 9 years. Replication was sought in a second independent cohort.
Results: In cohort 1, retinoid X receptor-α (RXRA) chr9:136355885+ and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) chr7:150315553+ methylation had independent associations with sex-adjusted childhood fat mass (exponentiated regression coefficient [β] 17% per SD change in methylation [95%CI 4-31], P = 0.009, n = 64, and β = 20% [9-32], P < 0.001, n = 66, respectively) and út mass (β = 10% [1-19], P = 0.023, n = 64 and β =12% [4-20], P = 0.002, n = 66, respectively). Regression analyses including sex and neonatal epigenetic marks explained >25% of the variance in childhood adiposity. Higher methylation of RXRA chr9:136355885+, but not of eNOS chr7:150315553+, was associated with lower maternal carbohydrate intake in early pregnancy, previously linked with higher neonatal adiposity in this population. In cohort 2, cord eNOS chr7:150315553+ methylation showed no association with adiposity, but RXRA chr9:136355885+ methylation showed similar associations with fat mass and út mass (β = 6% [2-10] and β = 4% [1-7], respectively, both P = 0.002, n = 239).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest a substantial component of metabolic disease risk has a prenatal developmental basis. Perinatal epigenetic analysis may have utility in identifying individual vulnerability to later obesity and metabolic disease.
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The Stigma of Obesity: Does Perceived Weight Discrimination Affect Identity and Physical Health?
Markus Schafer & Kenneth Ferraro
Social Psychology Quarterly, March 2011, Pages 76-97
Abstract:
Obesity is widely recognized as a health risk, but it also represents a disadvantaged social position. Viewing body weight within the framework of stigma and its effects on life chances, we examine how perceived weight-based discrimination influences identity and physical health. Using national survey data with a 10-year longitudinal follow-up, we consider whether perceptions of weight discrimination shape weight perceptions, whether perceived weight discrimination exacerbates the health risks of obesity, and whether weight perceptions are the mechanism explaining why perceived weight discrimination is damaging to health. Perceived weight discrimination is found to be harmful, increasing the health risks of obesity associated with functional disability and, to a lesser degree, self-rated health. Findings also reveal that weight-based stigma shapes weight perceptions, which mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and health.
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Helpful Hopefulness: The Effect of Future Positive Emotions on Consumption
Karen Page Winterich & Kelly Haws
Journal of Consumer Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Though positive affect may enhance self-control, some research suggests this is not always the case. To clarify this relationship, we investigate the role of temporal focus on the effect of specific positive emotions on self-control dilemmas in snack consumption. In four studies, we demonstrate that participants experiencing a future-focused positive emotion (i.e., hopefulness) consume less unhealthy food and have lower preferences for unhealthy snacks than those in a past or present-focused emotional state (i. e., pride, happiness). We demonstrate the role of temporal focus through its natural occurrence in emotion induction essays (study 1), chronic temporal focus (study 2), and manipulation of anticipated versus retrospective emotional states (study 3). A fourth study demonstrates that self-control benefits do not arise from future-focused negative emotions (i.e., fear) as they do from future-focused positive emotions. These results suggest that consumers may benefit from adapting the temporal focus of positive emotions to the future.
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Social modeling of food purchases at supermarkets in teenage girls
Kirsten Bevelander, Doeschka Anschütz & Rutger Engels
Appetite, forthcoming
Abstract:
Ample experimental research has demonstrated the impact of peer influence on food intake in adolescents and adults. However, none of these studies focused on modeling effects on food purchases in supermarkets. This study investigated whether the food purchase behavior of a confederate peer would be adopted by the participant. Teenage girls (N = 89) were asked to perform a shopping task in a local supermarket. They had to shop with a same-sex confederate peer who had been instructed earlier to purchase either five low-kilocaloric food products, five average-kilocaloric or five high-kilocaloric food products. Significant main effects for the experimental purchase condition and hunger were found on the amount of kilocalories of the purchased food products. Teenage girls who shopped with a peer in the high-kilocaloric condition purchased higher kilocaloric food products relative to the girls who shopped with a peer in the low-kilocaloric condition. In addition, girls who reported to be hungry purchased higher kilocaloric food products in general. These findings might imply that teenage girls follow unhealthy food purchases of a peer during shopping. Health promotion might benefit from our findings by also focusing on food purchases and not only food intake.
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A Losing Battle: Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Thin Ideal Images on Dieting and Body Satisfaction
Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick & Josselyn Crane
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study examined prolonged exposure effects of thin-ideal media messages. College-aged females participated in seven online sessions over 10 days including a baseline measures session, five daily measures, and a posttest. Two experimental groups viewed magazine pages with thin-ideal imagery. One of those groups was induced to engage in social comparisons with the thin-ideal models. The control group viewed messages with body-neutral images of women. Prolonged exposure to thin-ideal messages led to greater body satisfaction. This finding was attributed to the fact that the experimental groups reported more dieting behaviors. A mediation analysis showed that the impact of thin-ideal message exposure on body satisfaction was mediated by dieting.
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Meal distribution across the day and its relationship with body composition
Murilo Dattilo et al.
Biological Rhythm Research, March/April 2011, Pages 119-129
Abstract:
Evidence has suggested that meal distribution across the day may influence body composition. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of energy and macronutrient intake in healthy men and women, and to correlate it with body composition. Fifty-two healthy volunteers (24 men), aged 20-45 years old, participated in the study. Food intake was analyzed by a three-day food record and anthropometric measurements included body mass, height, body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. Positive correlations were found in men between night fat intake and body mass index, body fat percentage and waist circumference and negative correlations were seen between morning energy and macronutrient intake and the same anthropometric variables. These data suggest that fat intake at night is associated with higher values in anthropometric variables while morning food intake can be associated with lower values in anthropometric variables.