The way in which one compares weight-wise with others in his or her community plays a key role in determining how satisfied the person is with his or her life, says a new study.
"The most interesting finding for us was that, in U.S. counties where obesity is particularly prevalent, being obese has very little negative effect on one's life satisfaction," said study co-author Philip M. Pendergast, a doctoral student in sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder. "In addition, we found that being 'normal weight' has little benefit in counties where obesity is especially common. This illustrates the importance of looking like the people around you when it comes to satisfaction with life."
Obesity
Obesity is a condition where there is excess accumulation of body fat which poses a risk to the health of the individual. It can affect children and adults.
Advertisement
Titled, "Obesity (Sometimes) Matters: The Importance of Context in the Relationship between Obesity and Life Satisfaction," the study, which appears in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, focuses on a sample of more than 1.3 million people from across the United States. As part of their study, Pendergast and co-author Tim Wadsworth, an associate professor in the department of sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, evaluated people's life satisfaction in the context of the county in which they lived and then compared their findings across counties with varying rates of obesity.
"Where obesity is more common, there is less difference among obese, severely obese, and non-obese individuals' life satisfaction, but where obesity is less common, the difference in life satisfaction between the obese (including the severely obese) and non-obese is greater," said Pendergast. "In that light, obesity in and of itself, does not appear to be the main reason obese individuals tend to be less satisfied with their lives than their non-obese peers. Instead, it appears to be society's response to or stigmatization of those that are different from what is seen as 'normal' that drives this relationship."
![Childhood Obesity]( "Childhood Obesity")
Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges in the developing countries and needs to be understood and tackled effectively.
According to the researchers, before accounting for where people live, severely obese men and women have 29 percent and 43 percent lower odds, respectively, than their non-obese counterparts of reporting that they are "very satisfied" with their lives. However, the story is very different among people in counties where obesity is common. Among men, about 79 percent of the gap in the probability of severely obese and non-obese individuals reporting that they are "very satisfied" with their lives is eliminated if one moves from a county in the 5th percentile for obesity in the U.S. (with an obesity rate of 24 percent) to a county in the 95th percentile (with a rate of 46 percent). In the same scenario among women, the gap is reduced by about 60 percent.
"Although women generally pay a higher emotional cost for being obese, the role of context in moderating the relationship between obesity status and life satisfaction appears to be similar for men and women," Pendergast said.
Why do women typically pay a higher cost?
"Think about the advertising we see on television or in magazines — we are bombarded by images of thin women, and we are told that is the ideal," said Pendergast, who noted that the study offers a potential explanation for the exponential increase in obesity in the United States over the past 30 years.
"Our findings demonstrate that where obesity is most prevalent, the difference in life satisfaction between the obese and non-obese is smaller for women and almost non-existent for men," he said. "The same relationship is likely to exist over time and, as such, the emotional cost and advantage of obesity and non-obesity, respectively, may be decreasing as the prevalence of obesity increases. If this is the case, then some of the motivation for remaining thin is lessening over time, perhaps offering further insight into why obesity prevalence has increased so dramatically in recent years."
Source: Eurekalert
Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges in the developing countries and needs to be understood and tackled effectively.
Advertisement
According to the researchers, before accounting for where people live, severely obese men and women have 29 percent and 43 percent lower odds, respectively, than their non-obese counterparts of reporting that they are "very satisfied" with their lives. However, the story is very different among people in counties where obesity is common. Among men, about 79 percent of the gap in the probability of severely obese and non-obese individuals reporting that they are "very satisfied" with their lives is eliminated if one moves from a county in the 5th percentile for obesity in the U.S. (with an obesity rate of 24 percent) to a county in the 95th percentile (with a rate of 46 percent). In the same scenario among women, the gap is reduced by about 60 percent.
"Although women generally pay a higher emotional cost for being obese, the role of context in moderating the relationship between obesity status and life satisfaction appears to be similar for men and women," Pendergast said.
Why do women typically pay a higher cost?
"Think about the advertising we see on television or in magazines — we are bombarded by images of thin women, and we are told that is the ideal," said Pendergast, who noted that the study offers a potential explanation for the exponential increase in obesity in the United States over the past 30 years.
"Our findings demonstrate that where obesity is most prevalent, the difference in life satisfaction between the obese and non-obese is smaller for women and almost non-existent for men," he said. "The same relationship is likely to exist over time and, as such, the emotional cost and advantage of obesity and non-obesity, respectively, may be decreasing as the prevalence of obesity increases. If this is the case, then some of the motivation for remaining thin is lessening over time, perhaps offering further insight into why obesity prevalence has increased so dramatically in recent years."
Source: Eurekalert
Atkins Diet
Atkins diet is a low carbohydrate diet and aids in weight loss. It was developed by Robert Atkins.
Advertisement
 Body Mass IndexBody mass index (BMI) is a simple tool that is generally used to estimate the total amount of body fat. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Obesity News
Tackling obesity in children: Interventions focusing on eating a healthy diet and practicing regular exercise alone won't prevent childhood obesity.
Moms who eat unhealthy foods and are obese during pregnancy are more likely to deliver kids who are at increased risk of becoming obese adults.
Choice-based mobile food pantry program has the potential to reduce household food insecurity, improve diet quality, and tackle obesity among children.
New study attempts to identify bacterial indicator species of obesity and metabolic syndrome in adult and pediatric patients.
A new therapeutic approach using natural peptides may tackle the root cause of obesity-related conditions by preventing systemic inflammation.