Maddox, G. L., Back, K. W., " Liederman, V. R. (1968)
Overweight as social deviance and disability. Journal of health and social behavior, 287-298.
Maddox, Back, and Liederman in 1968
developed the research paper. The authors aimed to establish the overweight the overweight condition as a disability. The paper is divided into four main sections: the introduction/background, the methodology, results, and discussion which also comprise the conclusion to the article. The research report offers more evidence that overweight is a form of a social disability in the American society particularly among the people who have a higher likelihood of stigmatization as fat. The inferences are made from responses to pictures provided to the respondents who were required to offer different perspectives on likability of various types of disabilities.
Stratified Sampling
Stratified sampling was used to collect data. The sample (N=199) was drawn from a population of approximately 1000 new patients seeking medication in a general hospital’s outpatient clinic. The sampling procedure was as follows: at the first contact with the hospital, every sick person’s weight and height were measured by the medical personnel. At this point of the study, it was important to screen overweight people. The study labeled individuals over-weight if they weighed 10% above the upper limits of approved weight of a person of the similar height as established in weight tables from the metropolitan insurance company. Subjects weighing more than 10% but below 20% of a person carrying average weight, but same height are considered moderately overweight, while the ones with above 20% were labeled as severely overweight.
Hospital's Data Collection
The hospital captured the patient weight in a dichotomous manner; that is, an individual is either overweight or normal. According to data collected, the ratio of normal to overweight patient stood at 2:3. The investigation established race and sex as key influences of attitudes about body weight. Samples drawn from role-sex groupings and individuals from this groups were expected to offer important information on the attitude about body size. For instance, about data analyzed from a survey whose object was the dieting and preferred weight among the U.S residents, white men were at least or had least concern about their weight. While ladies had the greatest concern with their body sizes and were unhappy with their body sizes, and by all means had a desire of reducing it even when it was logically difficult to reduce the weight. More than any race, Negros expressed an interest of adding more weight. Further, the Negro females had little concern about body size and expressed little intention on the possibility of reducing their weights. Initial analysis revealed that these elements were important when variables such as geographical location, education, and age were under control.
Categories of the Special Population
Therefore, the categories of the special population studied had the following features: first, white males of over 60 years residing in a small town or a rural setting in the West with at least 8th-grade education level. Secondly, white women between 40 and 60 years having college education residing in a city of more than a million people located in the East. Thirdly, Negro men between 20 and 40 years with college education and residents of a city with over one million people located in the West. Fourth, Negro women with high school education and above and residents of cities with above one million people located in the Midwest. The reason for these groupings was to collect data with the capacity of offering adequate variation in attitudes regarding body size.
Findings
The findings from the study show an overwhelming support for the negative assessments of people with overweight in the American society. Besides, the community blame fat people as solely responsible for their conditions. The respondents ranked overweight as the worst or second worst among the disabilities tested in the evaluation. The special samples and the low economic status exhibited the fat child as the least likable. In some cases, participants in some categories show agreement that, an overweight should be ranked 5th. This situation was evident in both Negros and white men, older males and females and individuals from lower economic class represented in the clinical population.
Assessment of Semantic Differential Variation Scores
Additionally, more findings come from the assessment of semantic differential variation scores. The research categorized subjects according to their weights and the anticipated ideal self and the practical weighty self. The study generated different results for males in the clinic population. The white males with normal weight revealed the least discrepancy in the actual-ideal self. The discrepancy is biggest among the people considered overweight and average among the people in the moderate overweight category. That is the white men who show a large actual-self disparity also shows a difference between the self and a fat individual. The men from the Negro group represented, in the clinical sample depict a complex pattern. In the Negro case, the disparity in actual ideal-self reduces with increasing overweight. Further, an obese Negro man represented in the clinical sample shows a higher likelihood of distinguishing himself from the Negro counterpart carrying the same weight from a weight individual. These findings propose that the denial of being overweight may be the reason for a positive perception of the self. However, that cannot be conclusive to state that Negro men are entirely free from perceived negative impacts associated with obesity.
Negative Perception about Weight
The negative perception about weight revealed by data review in the article show consistency on anticipations based on impressionistic evaluations of cultural beliefs and conclusions from limited literature. The validity of findings from this research is worth trust because the samples utilized in the investigation were deliberately selected to capture attitude from abroad variety of individuals regarding overweight or at least, tolerance to overweight. The responses from the Negro individuals in the special and group samples appeared to show less negativity in the perception of fatness, but their responses were negative just like all other groups. The negative reactions of the Negro respondents is depicted in the ranking of the fat child. They never ranked the fat child above 5th position in the picture series. Also, the Negro women ranked the Overweight kid fourth in the special sample. Further, the Negro females in the special sample portrayed a low actual-ideal disparity rating. Nonetheless, in the clinic model, the actual-ideal disparity was massive and they put the overweight child in the sixth position.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Study
The primary reason making almost all participants to lowly rate obesity is the view that it is self-inflicted and to some sections, it is a voluntarily acquired condition. The special sample depicts that overweight persons solely carry the responsibility of carrying above normal weight. Moreover, the condition is ranked lowly because of its characteristics. It is reversible unlike other disabilities assessed alongside. The research, in this cases presents some advantages and disadvantages of the study. First, it noted that the obese condition is reversible and thus providing the reason why most people portray greatest negativity against it. Secondly, samples used are representative because they captured people from learned, moderately learned, and highly learned people. Further, it took into account the views from both men and women from various age groups. Third, the article is informative to the public that obesity is a reversible condition which should not trouble them. They should seek ways of curing the condition either through engaging in vigorous physical exercise or changing a lifestyle. Some of the disadvantages include: first, it only considered views of overweight from two races, the Negros and the white Americans. Other races like the Indians, Spaniards are not represented. Secondly, the setting of the research is in the United States, thus it does not represent the conclusions drawn from other parts of the world. Thirdly, many years have passed from the time the research was carried out, thus if it is repeated in the present setting, it may offer different results. If the study was to be replicated today, I will recommend that it should include people from all races. Additionally, its sample should be drawn from all parts of the world.
Conclusion
The results attained from the five samples (N=299) which were anticipated to offer different outcomes about attitudes about negative fatness all show consistency. Similar picture ranking in the research offered same results. Besides, even the Negros, a group of people viewed to favor large weights portrayed their negative attitude against overweight. Thus, the social circle of an obese person seem disabling because the people obese individuals interact with view them as responsible for their predicaments. Even though, the research does not provide evidence of socially acceptability among peers, but the clinicians who view other patients as more attractive than fat ones offer a general picture of how obese people are viewed in the society.
