What demographic factors (if any) contribute to weight gain and the effects of weight gain in seriously obese, middle-aged, pre-menopausal white females? This is a question that has been, at best, sparsely researched (Spodnik & Gibbons, 1987). This study contributes to the existing literature on obesity, weight gain, and the effects of weight-gain by examining whether demographic factors that have been found to be associated with weight gain and the effects of weight gain for non-obese, young, white female samples generalize to a sample of seriously obese, middle-age sample of females.
The research problem examined in this study consisted of investigating whether the amount of weight gained since aged 30 (in a sample of 35 to 49 year old seriously obese white females) as well as several selected effects of weight gain were significantly associated with the following demographic factors: marital status, birth-order, educational background, yearly income, past history of weight problems, or age. Seriously obese was defined in accordance with Polivy and Herman's (1987) criterion which states that individuals may be considered to be seriously obese when their body weight is in excess of 100 pounds over their ideal body weight.
Fourteen specific effects of weight gain were examined. These were the physical effects of lethargy; arthritis; respiratory problems; high-blood pressure; hormonal imbalance; diabetes; cardiovascular problems, and cancer. In addition, several psychosocial effects were also examined. These were: self-esteem; job discrimination; rejection; feeling unattractive; experiencing social ridicule; being told one was lazy or had a character flaw.
All of the effects selected for study were derived from the existing work on obesity (see: Ciliska, 1986; Crisp & McGuiness, 1975; DeJong & Kleck, 1986; Stunkard, 1980; Rodin, Silberstein & Streigel-Moore, 1985; Wooley, 1987); however, it can be noted that this work w...