The procedure for this study was done by giving the questionnaire to 7 males and 10 females. Each participant filled out the questionnaire and gave it back after answering all the questions. The participants were chosen at random and volunteered to fill out the questionnaire. The results showed that neither of the two groups were willing to give their position on obesity. Both groups total scores on the questionnaire were in the neutral range which shows they simply circled the undecided response most often on the questionnaire. The results suggested that there wasn't any difference in the responses given by men or women. The results also suggest that both men and women are reluctant to give their position on obesity when answering very straight forward questions.
Their has been research suggesting that emotions effect the eating habits of obese people. Ganley & Richard (1989) found a relationship between emotions and the eating habits of obese people. Their study suggested that the influence of emotion is very complex and that several qualities of emotional eating must be looked at when determining the level of influence. The study also notes that 3/4 of all obese subjects are influenced by emotions. These emotions are usually negative, but there are occasional reports of positive emotions causing eating disorders (Ganley & Richard, 1989). In each study done by these researchers their results showed a difference between obese and normal(control) subjects eating habits, which is implying that emotions do have an significant effect.
Many people find obesity as being unattractive. A study by Clayson, Dennis, Klassen, & Michael, (1989) took 318 Caucasian college students and surveyed them. The results showed that obese people were seen as being unattractive. The study also revealed that the hair color red was also seen as unattractive, the hair color and obesity were separate and didn't both have to be present for someone to be considered unattractive. The main reason given by the subjects for why obese people were considered unattractive, is obesity was considered to be a persons choice.
What causes society to develop attitudes towards obesity? Societies cultural norms and the females sex-role stereotypes, along with societies attitudes are to blame according to Rodin, Judith, Silberstein, Lisa, Striegel, & Ruth (1984). They suggest that obesity is strongly shunned and met with psychological, social, and economic punishments. Today's thin image calls for a woman to be skinny to be attractive. This is unrealistic due to the biological changes such as puberty, pregnancy, and menopause which usually cause an increase in body fat. The obsessive desire of women to be skinny is caused by social pressures that make them feel ashamed if they aren't thin. There are many consequences associated with trying to fulfill societies thin image, such as lowered self esteem, distorted body image, and feelings of helplessness. The consequences are caused by the failure to meet the norms and threw frustration from failing diets.
Does the knowledge someone has on obesity effect their attitudes. Fifty three percent of a sample said that obesity was caused by overeating and 26.1% said it was a combination of inactivity and over eating (Musaiger & Abdulraham, 1994). The study was conducted at the university of United Arab Emirates and results came from a questionair given to 203 female students. The study also revealed that 50% of the participants didn't know the medical problems associated with obesity. Only half of the participants knew their own height but 76% knew their weight. Thirty percent of the girls with normal body weight gave an inaccurate perception of their body weight when asked. The overweight females 80% of the time considered themselves to be obese.
Obesity effects most peoples lives in one way or another. Whether it is a personal battle with your own weight or listing to a friend talk about the new super diet they are on. Obesity can cause people of normal weight for their height to develop an eating disorder. The disorder develops simply from the fear of becoming fat and not meeting societies requirements. This has been found to happen in pubertal girls as young as 7 and has symptoms similar to anorexia nervosa (Ohzeki, Takehiko, Tachikawa, Hiroshi, Tanimoto, Kaname, Hanaki, & Keiichi, 1994). The disorder happens not in obese girls but in girls that are afraid of becoming obese. This shows the magnitude attitudes towards obesity has on society and that you don't have to be a adult to feel the pressure to be thin.
Many obese people have bad images of themselves and negative feelings about themselves. It has been found that obese women don't have poorer social skills or relationships than nonobese women (Miller, Carol, Rothblum, Esther, Brand, Pamela, Felicio, & Diane, 1995). The researchers gave 78 obese and 78 nonobese women measures in social anxiety, social self-esteem, social competence, social network size, and perceived social support from friends. The two groups also gave self reports on themselves and friends. The groups were rated by their friends and coworkers to see if a comparison could be made. The results showed that their wasn't any significant difference between the groups self reports or the ratings given by friends and coworkers. The results suggest that obese women can adapt to and overcome prejudices and function normally in social situations.
Many people seek treatment to help them with their obesity and this usually calls for some kind of behavior modification. It has been shown that treatment prograse in fat. The obsessive desire of women to be skinny is caused by social pressures that make them fill ashamed if they aren't thin. There are many consequences associated with trying to fulfill societies thin image, such as lowered self esteem, distorted body image, and feelings of helplessness. The consequences are caused by the failure to meet the norms of society and threw frustration from diets that fail.
Does the knowledge someone has on obesity effect their attitudes. Fifty three percent of a sample said that obesity was caused by overeating and 26.1% said it was a combination of inactivity and over eating (Musaiger & Abdulraham, 1994). This study was conducted at the university of United Arab Emirates and the results came from a questionnaire given to 203 female students. The study also revealed that 50% of the participants didn't know the medical problems associated with obesity. Only half of the participants knew their own height but 76% knew their weight. Thirty percent of the girls with normal body weight gave an inaccurate perception of their body weight when asked. The overweight females 80% of the time considered themselves to be obese.
Obesity effects most peoples lives in one way or another. Whether it is a personal battle with your own weight or listing to a friend talk about the new super diet they are on. Obesity cause severe problems when people of normal weight for their height develop an eating disorder. The disorder develops simply from the fear of becoming fat and not meeting societies requirements. This has been found to happen in pubertal girls as young as 7 and has symptoms similar to anorexia nervosa (Ohzeki, Takehiko, Tachikawa, Hiroshi, Tanimoto, Kaname, Hanaki, & Keichi, 1994). The disorder happens not in obese girls but in girls that are afraid of becoming obese and the fear makes them not eat. This shows the magnitude attitudes towards obesity has on society and that you don't have to be a adult to feel the pressure to be thin.
Many obese people have bad images of themselves and negative feelings about themselves. It has been found that obese women don't have poorer social skills or relationships than nonobese women (Miller, Carol, Rothblum, Esther, Brand, Pamela, Felicio, & Diane, 1995). The researchers gave 78 obese and 78 nonobese women measures in social anxiety, social self-esteem, social competence, social network size, and perceived social support from friends. The two groups also gave self reports on themselves and friends. The groups were rated by their friends and coworkers to see if a comparison could be made. The results showed that their wasn't any significant difference between the groups self reports or the ratings given by friends and coworkers. The results suggest that obese women can adapt to and overcome the prejudices towards obesity and function normally in social situations.
Many people seek treatment to help them with their obesity and this usually calls for some kind of behavior modification. It has been shown that treatment programs for obese people have high drop out rates and the drop outs have higher psychopathic related personality problems than non drop outs(Hjordis, Djorvell, Gunnar, &Edman, 1989). Drop outs also tend to be more impulsive and have low socialization scores. On the other hand obese people who successfully complete behavioral treatments have higher socialization scores. The results suggest that behavior treatment can be an effective tool in dealing with obesity.
Cognitive therapy has been used effectively to improve self esteem, overeating, and eating guilt of obese people (Rosen, James, Orosan, Pam, Reiter, & Jeff, 1995). Rosen rt al. found in this study that the personal self images and beliefs of the obese clients was improved within eight 2-hr sessions. The therapy used information to challenge negative attitudes towards obesity. The therapy also used modification of intrusive thoughts of body dissatisfaction and overvalued beliefs about physical appearance. The therapy went on to expose the subjects to avoided body image situations and eliminated them from looking at themselves in the mirror which is called body checking. The results are significant because they show that societies attitudes towards obesity can be dealt with and that obese people can survive and live happy lives.
Zhang, Yiying, Proenca, Ricardo, Maffei Margherita , Barone, & Marisa (1995) have been conducting studies on obesity genes in rats and its human homologue. The researchers hypothesize that the obesity gene is secreted into the blood and regulates food intake. This research offers scientist a better understanding of obesity and may some day lead to a possible way stop obesity. This research will help scientist better understand the biological nature of obesity.
Attitudes towards obesity can be found everywhere and in every profession. Attitudes towards obesity can effect personal and professional relationships. There are many studies that are starting to look at the professional aspects of attitudes towards obesity which can be seen in a study that was done by Dagley, Conklin, Isherwood, & Pechiulia, (1989) which measured nurses attitudes towards obesity on patients. Obesity is now being recognized and looked at in many areas of life and professions now more than ever before. Researchers are tying to weigh the negative components that attitudes towards obesity have on obese people and this alone has lead to development of special treatments for obesity. Obesity has become a recognized condition that is now a diagnosable illness.
The Purpose of this study is to measure and compare attitudes towards obesity of men and women subjects using a likert frequency scale questionnaire. I hypothesize that each of the two groups studied will produce similar results and show attitudes towards obesity. I think people will tell their true attitudes on this questionnaire.
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Rodin., J., Silberstein., L., & Striegel., M. R. (1984). Women and weight: A normative Discontent. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 32. 267-307.
Rosen, J. C., Orsan, P, & Reiter, J. (1995). Cognitive behavior therapy for negative body image in obese women. Special Series : Body dissatisfaction, binge eating, and dieting as interlocking issues in eating disorders research. Behavior Therapy 26 (1). 25-42.
Zhang, Y., Proenca, R., Maffei, M., & Barone, M. (1994). Positional cloning of the mouse obese gene and its human homologue. Nature 372 (6505). 425-432.
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