WOMEN'S WEIGHT GAIN BRINGS LOSS OF INCOME

An increase in a woman’s body mass results in a decrease in her family income and a decline in her occupational prestige, according to research conducted by New York University sociologist Dalton Conley and Rebecca Glauber, an NYU graduate student. The study was sponsored by the Cambridge, MA-based National Bureau of Economic Research.

The study’s authors also found that a women’s body mass is associated with a reduction in a woman’s likelihood of marriage, her spouse’s occupational prestige, and her spouse’s earnings. In addition, the researchers found that the association between body mass and occupational outcomes was more pronounced among younger women, suggesting that it is body mass that affects occupational prestige rather than the reverse. By contrast, and consistent with past research, men experience no negative effects of body mass on their economic situation. The researchers found no association between height and economic outcomes. The paper is available atpapers.nber.org/papers/w11343.pdf.

Earlier research has been conducted on body mass index (BMI) and economic outcomes. However, this is the first study to employ the Panel Study of Economic Dynamics (PSID) to address this topic. PSID, which has surveyed a nationally representative sample of 5,000 families since 1968, allows researchers to track changes in Americans over several decades-notably the interaction between age and gender-rather than at a single moment in time or over a short period.

Conley and Glauber selected adults in the survey, aged 25 or older, who were the head or wife of their household in any or all of the following years: 1986, 1999, and 2001. In addition, these adults’ mothers had to have been part of the PSID sample at some point since the survey’s inception. In gauging occupational prestige, the researchers used the socioeconomic index scores (SEI) developed by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1970. The analysis controlled for age and education.

Through sibling comparisons, Conley and Glauber found that a 1 percent increase in a woman’s body mass results in a .6 percentage point decrease in her family income and a .4 percentage point decrease in her occupational prestige as measured 13 to 15 years later. There were no such associations found for the men in the sample.

Conley, author of The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why, recently received the National Science Foundation’s 2005 Waterman Award, which recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. Conley, director of NYU’s Center for Advanced Social Science Research, is the first sociologist to win the award since its inception in 1975. Conley has also written The Starting Gate: Birth Weight and Life Chances (University of California, 2003), with Kate Strully and Neil Bennett,Honky (University of California, 2000), and Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America (University of California, 1999).

Obesity Stigma

This link is far more interesting and well written than my post. Check it out!

http://www.rice.edu/sallyport/2003/summer/sallyport/obesitystigma.html

I've been thinking about the stigma that is attached to obesity a little too much lately. I was reading a study that was done in England. They showed people picture of mismatched couple, one fat and one thin and asked them their opinion of the fit person in the couple, based on the picture. They then showed another group pictures of the same people, but paired with somebody closer to their own size and strangely enough they same people where give a far more favorable rating...I know this is a painful subject for both the obese and for most of their spouses, but the fact is through out human society and down through the ages, with very few exceptions obesity is a stigmatized condition. Obesity was stigmatized in medieval Japan in part, at least, because it was viewed as the karmic consequence of a moral failing in a Buddhist context. The stigma in Europe was based on the Christian deadly sin of gluttony. Stigmatization of obesity is not new.

Obesity as an illness

I've been thinking of obesity as something closer to an illness lately. I don't know if this has had any effect on my relationship, I'm sure it hasn't, but I remember hearing somebody talk about seeking treatment for depression a long time ago. They were having trouble getting an appointment with a therapist and they said, "what if I had a broken leg? Would you see me then?". This may be an old argument, but depression and obesity have more in common than just one causing the other. If your spouse had a back injury and you knew that if they didn't do the physical therapy it would get worse, would you encourage them? If your spouse had been in a cat accident and had broken their legs and the doctor prescribed physical therapy would you make sure they went to those appointments. I understand many people don't change until they have to. In fact many people don't take weight loss seriously until their health is seriously threatened or their spouse leaves them. I haven't looked it up, but I bet diabetes and divorce cause more weight loss than Atkins.
Guilty? Yeah I'm sure most of us feel guilty bringing this up. It hurts. It hurts the ones we love. Would you feel guilty if your spouse had a bad back, but wouldn't do the physical therapy the doctor prescribed. What if they just sat on the couch and watched television, their problem got worse and then they had to get surgery and their condition worsened to the point that you become a care taker. Would you have guilt for not making them get up and do what needed to be done?
Has anybody anywhere in your life kept on you to do something you didn't want to do? A coach? A teacher? A friend? Your Boss? Your parents? Did they feel guilty for making you the person you are today? Did they feel guilty for making you work harder? For telling you you were not meeting their expectations? For convincing you you could do better? Well I understand the power relationship is different in a marriage of "equals", but in the end wouldn't we want somebody to push us into a better life style, rather than leave us sitting on the couch watching the biggest loser on television and feeling horrible.

Questions for the Intellectually Honest

For the past 30 years or more Americans have gotten fatter and fatter and fatter and there seems to be no end in sight is spite of the fact that there is a multi billion dollar weight loss industry and a national weight loss frenzy.

Obviously when you look at the dismal numbers we can see that in spite of the billions dollars spent nothing seems to be working. That being the case I have some questions for anyone wanting to share their thoughts with me.

Obviously overweight people over eat. Agree? Disagree? Why?

Eating is a conscience behavior. Agree? Disagree? Why?

The laws of physics ie conservation of mass apply to human bodies. Agree? Disagree? Why?

Most people who try to lose weight and keep it off fail. Agree? Disagree? Why?

Dieters rarely continue to do the things to lose weight and keep it off. Agree? Disagree? Why?

Is that fact that most dieters fail to lose weight and keep it off and make the lifestyle changes a matter of CAN'T or is it a matter of won't.

Your thoughts?


posted by M2 on the My Fat Spouse Forum

The Killer at Large Free Teacher/Educator Edition

ShineBox Media Productions announced today that copies of their critically acclaimed film, “Killer at Large”, will be made available free for school teachers for use in the classroom. A special twenty-minute version of the film has been assembled by the filmmakers and is perfect for affording teachers enough time to discuss the complex issues raised in the film in the space of one class period.

The award-winning “Killer at Large” explores the multi-faceted obesity epidemic facing the United States. Producer Bryan Young insists the problem is so large that, “we felt it was very important to get as many people as we can to discuss an issue that the last few Surgeons General have warned us is the biggest threat to our country today. Classrooms are the perfect place for that discussion and, to that end, we thought it was vital to offer teachers an opportunity to show important excerpts from the film and discuss with students the issues they face in the world in regard to obesity.”

Executive Producer Dr. Shawn Talbott said, “As a Nutritionist and educator, I have seen the direct firsthand impact of bringing ‘Killer At Large’ into the classroom as a platform for teachers and students to begin a discussion about the causes and solutions to the obesity epidemic.“

“Killer at Large” has been screened on college campuses and used by university professors around the country, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Tufts, and many others. The film features interviews and footage of notable experts and celebrities speaking on the topic of the American obesity epidemic including Former President Bill Clinton, Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, Ralph Nader, Dr. Kelly Brownell, Dr. Marion Nestle, and bestselling authors Michael Pollan and Chef Ann Cooper, among many others.

For a free copy of the special classroom version (plus shipping and handling), all teachers have to do is sign up at the films official website (www.killeratlarge.com) starting Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

For more information, or if you’re a teacher and would like to sign up for your free classroom copy, please visit www.KillerAtLarge.com