Mothers' attitudes toward fat, weight, and dieting in themselves and their children

We examined how a mother's view of her body, and fatness in general, affects her attitude toward her child's weight and eating. Mothers (N = 118) of 3–5-year-old children filled out a questionnaire designed to assess weight satisfaction, anti-fat attitudes, and how concerned and restrictive they are with regards to their child's weight and eating. We found mothers who were more fearful of being or becoming overweight themselves worried more for their children, although fearful attitudes did not predict restricting a child's eating. These results suggest that maternal attitudes toward their own weight affect their beliefs about their children's weight.     

Individual differences in the anti-fat attitudes of preschool-children: the importance of perceived body size

Preschool-age children hold negative attitudes toward overweight peers (i.e., anti-fat attitudes), but little is known about individual differences in these attitudes. The current study investigated actual weight status and perceived body size in relation to preschool-age children's anti-fat attitudes. Sixty-nine 4–6 year-olds (61% girls) were individually interviewed about their body size perceptions using a figure rating scale and anti-fat attitudes using multiple methods (including an adjective rating scale and ratings of acceptability for different body shapes). Results suggested that children's perceived body size, not actual body size, was related to their attitudes about an overweight figure and the number of figures rated as acceptable. Children who perceived themselves as heavier held fewer anti-fat attitudes. Perceived and actual body size ratings were not related to ratings of a thin figure. This study suggests the importance of examining children's body image, particularly their perceived body size, in understanding their anti-fat attitudes.     

Negative Stereotyping of Obesity in Children: The Role of Controllability Beliefs

This study investigated the extent of negative stereotyping of obesity (compared to negative stereotyping of height) in children and its relationship with the perception of obesity as controllable. Questionnaires measuring negative stereotyping and controllability beliefs about weight (and height) were completed by 96 children from Grades 4 to 6. Consistent negative stereotyping of obesity was found for both child and adult targets, regardless of the child's own gender, age, or weight, Likewise, children uniformly believed obesity to be largely under volitional control. The degree of controllability assigned to obesity was positively correlated with the extent of negative stereotyping. It was concluded that control beliefs may provide a vehicle for changing the strong negative attitudes displayed toward fat people.     

Just world beliefs, causal beliefs, and acquaintance: Associations with stigma toward eating disorders and obesity

The current study investigated the relationship between just world beliefs and stigmatizing attitudes toward eating disorders and obesity. Further, the associations between stigma and causal beliefs, and between stigma and acquaintance with these conditions, were examined. Participants (n = 447) read four vignettes describing an individual with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or obesity. After each vignette, participants completed questionnaires assessing stigmatizing attitudes, just world beliefs, causal beliefs, and acquaintance with the condition depicted in the vignette. Stronger just world beliefs were associated with greater stigma toward all three eating disorders, as well as obesity (rs ranging from −.11 to −.18). More stigmatizing attitudes were associated with greater attribution of individual responsibility for the development of the disorder. However, participants with personal experience or who knew someone with the depicted problem did not have lower stigma scores than those who did not. The current study suggests that justification ideologies such as just world beliefs and controllability beliefs may underlie the stigmatization of eating disorders and obesity. These findings provide support for stigma reduction efforts aimed at targeting justification ideologies and altering causal beliefs.     

Individual differences and weight bias: Do people with an anti-fat bias have a pro-thin bias?

While levels of weight bias vary among individuals, it is not clear why one person possesses stronger anti-fat attitudes than another person. This investigation examined whether individual differences commonly associated with greater anti-fat bias are also associated with a greater preference for thinness among people of varying levels of weight. Young adults (62% women; 84% Caucasian) recruited from psychology classes (N = 308) rated four male and female figures with approximate BMIs of 18.5, 25, 30, and 40, on measures of dislike and personality characteristics and completed measures assessing weight controllability, attitudes toward the obese, and perceptual reliance. Greater negative attitudes, weight controllability beliefs, and perceptual reliance were positively associated with greater dislike and negative personality attributes among obese/severely obese figures, but inversely related among low normal weight figures. Individuals who judge others based on physical features or who view obesity as controllable evidence greater weight bias and a stronger preference for thin body types.     

Moderating Effects of Mothers' Attribution on the Relationships Between Their Affect and Parenting Behaviors and Children's Aggressive Behaviors

We examined Bugental's (1987) transactional model in the context of the relationships between aggressive children and their mothers. Based on Bugental's model, it was hypothesized that mothers who possessed the attributional style of low self-control and high child-control over hypothetical child care failure were more likely to manifest negative affect and negative parenting behaviors toward their child, only when their child is aggressive. Children's aggressive behavior was assessed via mothers' and teachers' ratings. Sixty-six children and their mothers served as subjects. Our results provided support for mothers' negative affect when using teachers' rating of children's aggressive behaviors only. Possible explanations for the differential results obtained using mothers' and teachers' ratings of children's aggressive behaviors were discussed.     

The effect of belief in weight controllability on anti-fat attitudes: An experimental manipulation

IntroductionAnti-fat attitudes reflect a type of discrimination on the basis of body weight and are one of the last accepted types of social stigma.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of exposure to priming messages about the causes of obesity on attitudes toward fat people.MethodParticipants (n = 580, M age = 22.19, 64.1% female) were randomly assigned to one of three possible conditions and then provided responses on three AFA subscales: Dislike, Fear of fat, and Willpower.ResultsPriming participants with messages confirming/challenging the weight controllability belief was associated with higher/lower levels on Willpower respectively compared to the control group. Unexpectedly, participants in both confirming and challenging groups showed significantly higher scores on Fear of fat. No differences were found on scores indicating Dislike.ConclusionThe current findings emphasize the effect of exposure to information about the causes of obesity on weight controllability beliefs.     

The influence of maternal child-rearing attitudes and teaching behaviors on preschoolers' delay of gratification

This study was an exploratory examination of the influence of mothers' teaching behaviors, strategies, and child-rearing attitudes on their children's ability to delay gratification. In an externally imposed delay of gratification situation, 30 mothers from a rural university community taught their children strategies that could help them refrain from touching a brightly wrapped present when the mothers left the room. Results showed that mothers of children who did not delay gratification exhibited teaching behaviors and child-rearing attitudes consistent with a permissive parenting style, whereas mothers of children who did delay gratification exhibited teaching behaviors and child-rearing attitudes consistent with an authoritative parenting style. The results of this study are discussed with respect to the development of children's self-control and self-regulatory abilities.     

抚养困难与教养行为的关系及其调节因素

本研究考察了567名2-5岁幼儿母亲的抚养困难与教养行为的关系,并进一步探讨了在高抚养困难情景下母亲教养行为的可能调节因素.结果发现(1)幼儿母亲的抚养困难感受总分与其教养行为的各个侧面均有非常显著的相关,母亲抚养困难程度越高,则其敏感性、参与性、积极情感及对儿童发展的指导性均较低,而其对儿童的消极情感较多;(2)回归分析表明,来自儿童侧面的"积极强化缺乏"、"多动/注意分散"、"不良心境"与"过度要求"以及来自母亲侧面的"缺乏依恋"、"缺乏能力感"等方面的抚养困难是预测母亲教养行为的重要因素;(3)在母亲抚养困难较高的情况下,夫妻双方的受教育水平分别对母亲教养行为的一些侧面具有调节作用.     

What's in a Name? The Effects of the Labels “Fat” Versus “Overweight” on Weight Bias1

This research examined the effects of the labels “fat” vs. “overweight” in the expression of weight bias, with the prediction that the label “fat” biases individuals to respond more negatively than does the label “overweight.” In Study 1, participants' attitudes toward people labeled as fat were less favorable than were their attitudes toward people labeled as overweight. In Studies 2 and 3, although participants chose similar‐sized figures to depict fat and overweight targets, weight stereotypes and weight attitudes were more negative toward people labeled as fat than those labeled as overweight. In addition, the endorsement of weight stereotypes mediated the biasing effect of the “fat” label on weight prejudice. Implications of this work for prejudice researchers and for public attitudes are discussed.     

Feminism and Attachment Parenting: Attitudes, Stereotypes, and Misperceptions

This paper investigated attitudes and stereotypes about what feminist women, primarily from the United States, believed about a number of practices associated with attachment parenting which is theorized to be both feminist and non-feminist. The goals of this study were to determine whether feminists endorsed attachment parenting and whether stereotypes of feminists’ beliefs corresponded to actual feminists’ attitudes. Women were recruited online, primarily through blogs, to complete an online survey about feminism and mothering. Four hundred and thirty one women comprised the sample for the current investigation and included heterosexual-identified feminist mothers (n?=?147), feminist non-mothers (n?=?75), non-feminist mothers (n?=?143), and non-feminist non-mothers (n?=?66). Participants were asked to rate their own attitudes towards specific practices associated with attachment parenting and to indicate their perceptions of the beliefs of the typical feminist. Results indicated that feminists were more supportive of attachment parenting practices than were non-feminists. Non-feminists, particularly mothers, held misperceptions about the typical feminist, seeing them as largely uninterested in the time-intensive and hands-on practices associated with attachment parenting. Feminist mothers also held stereotypes about feminists and saw themselves as somewhat atypical feminists who were more interested in attachment parenting than they thought was typical of feminists. Our data indicated that feminists did endorse attachment parenting and that stereotypes of feminists related to attachment parenting are untrue. Furthermore, the role of feminism in the identity of feminist mothers and whether attachment parenting is truly a feminist way to parent are discussed.     

When ideology hurts: effects of belief in the protestant ethic and feeling overweight on the psychological well-being of women.

Two studies addressed the relationship between Protestant ethic (PE) ideology and psychological well-being for self-perceived overweight and normal weight women. In Study 1, PE beliefs interacted with self-perceived weight status: For very overweight women, higher PE beliefs were related to lower psychological well-being, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for normal weight women. The relationship of PE to well-being was not mediated by beliefs about controllability of weight or dislike of the overweight. In Study 2, either a PE ideology or an inclusive ideology was primed within the context of the stigma of overweight. For overweight participants, priming PE ideology led to decreased psychological well-being, whereas priming an inclusive ideology led to increased psychological well-being. Normal weight participants were unaffected. PE ideology as a vulnerability factor for the psychological well-being of the overweight is discussed.     

Impact of perceived consensus on stereotypes about obese people: a new approach for reducing bias.

In 3 experiments, the authors tested the effect of perceived social consensus on attitudes toward obese people. Participants completed self-report measures of attitudes toward obese people prior to and after manipulated consensus feedback depicting attitudes of others. In Study 1 (N=60), participants decreased negative and increased positive stereotypes after learning that others held more favorable attitudes toward obese people. In Study 2 (N=55), participants improved attitudes when they learned about favorable attitudes of obese people from an in-group versus an out-group source. In Study 3 (N=200), a consensus approach was compared with other stigma reduction methods. Social consensus feedback influenced participants' attitudes and beliefs about causes of obesity. Providing information about the uncontrollable causes of obesity and supposed scientific prevalence of traits also improved attitudes.     

婴幼儿消极行为特征与影响母亲抚养困难的因素

以５７２名１－６岁儿童的母亲为研究对象,探讨了婴幼儿消极行为特征在各年龄组的分布、与母亲抚养困难的关系,并考察了在儿童消极行为较多情况下,与母亲抚养困难有关联的若干因素。结果表明;１．儿童消极行为特征的分布在各年龄组水平上是相似的。２．儿童的消极行为特征与母亲的抚养困难有显著的正相关。３．在儿童消极行为较多的情况下,母亲的职业、文化程度、生产年龄、婚姻关系及获得社会支持的程度等因素与母亲抚养困难有密切的关系。     

Attitudes towards obesity in the Swedish general population: The role of one's own body size,weight satisfaction,and controllability beliefs about obesity

This study examined the associations of different socio-demographic and psychological factors with attitudes towards obesity. Individuals with different weight status (N = 2436) were drawn from an annual population-based survey in Sweden, and data on attitudes towards obesity (ATOP) and predictor variables were assessed in 2008. The strongest predictor of ATOP was controllability beliefs about obesity (β = 0.83). Thus, greater controllability beliefs about obesity predicted more negative attitudes. Sex and weight satisfaction were also independently associated with ATOP. However, there was no, or only a weak, association between weight satisfaction and ATOP among individuals with normal weight or overweight. And the higher the weight satisfactions of individuals with obesity, the more positive were their attitudes. It seems that stigma-reduction strategies in the general public should address the uncontrollable factors in the aetiology of obesity. However, more research is needed to understand the underlying causes of people's attitudes towards obesity.     

College Mothers' Academic Achievement Goals as Related to their Children's Attitudes Toward Learning

The present study considers the relationship between college mothers' academic achievement goals (both learning and performance) and the mothers' attitudes toward their children's schoolwork as well as the relationship between each of these sets of characteristics in mothers and their elementary-school-age children's attitudes about learning. Results indicate that a mother's adoption of learning goals in her college education is positively related to the endorsement of a process/indirect focus with respect to assisting and evaluating her child on academic tasks and is associated with more personal satisfaction with providing homework assistance and greater optimism concerning the benefits of such assistance. Results also suggest that college mothers with more of a learning goal orientation and/or more of a process/indirect focus have children who display a similar concern with learning and a positive attitude about homework. Mothers who adopted more of a person/product focus with respect to their child's schoolwork had children who were less likely to interpret homework and other school tasks as opportunities to learn.     

Current and Past Maternal Depression, Maternal Interaction Behaviors, and Children’s Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms

Relations among past maternal depressive disorder, current depressive symptoms, current maternal interaction behaviors, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 204 women and their young adolescent offspring (mean age = 11.86, SD = 0.55). Mothers either had (n = 157) or had not (n = 57) experienced at least one depressive disorder during the child's life. Mothers and children participated in a problem-solving task, video-taped for later coding. Mothers with current depressive symptoms and those with histories of chronic/severe depressive disorders displayed fewer positive behaviors toward their children; mothers with current depressive symptoms also showed more negative behaviors with their children. The relation between mothers' depression history and their behavior during the interaction with their child was partially mediated by mothers' current mood state. Moreover, high levels of maternal negativity and low levels of positivity during the problem-solving task were related to children's externalizing problems. Maternal positivity partially mediated the relation between maternal depression and children's externalizing symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of providing parenting interventions for depressed mothers.     

Evaluative pressure in mothers: effects of situation, maternal, and child characteristics on autonomy supportive versus controlling behavior

This study examined the effects of situational pressure and maternal characteristics (social contingent self-worth, controlling parenting attitudes) on mothers' autonomy support versus control in the social domain. Sixty 4th-grade children and their mothers worked on a laboratory task in preparation for meeting new children, with mothers in either an evaluation (mothers told their child would be evaluated by other children) or no-evaluation (no mention of evaluation) condition. Mothers in the evaluation condition spent more time giving answers to their children. Mothers with controlling parenting attitudes exhibited more controlling behavior. Further, mothers with high social contingent self-worth in the evaluation condition were most controlling. Results suggest the importance of interactions between situations and maternal characteristics in determining levels of mothers' autonomy support versus control and have implications for helping parents support children's autonomy.     

Self-fulfilling prophecies: the synergistic accumulative effect of parents' beliefs on children's drinking behavior

This research examined whether mothers' and fathers' beliefs about their children's alcohol use had cumulative self-fulfilling effects on their children's future drinking behavior. Analyses of longitudinal data acquired from 115 seventh-grade children and their mothers and fathers were consistent with synergistic accumulation effects for negative beliefs: Parents' beliefs predicted the greatest degree of confirmatory behavior from children when both mothers and fathers overestimated their children's alcohol use. Results did not support synergistic accumulation effects for positive beliefs: Children's predicted future alcohol use was similar regardless of whether one parent or both underestimated their child's alcohol use. These findings suggest that the generally small self-fulfilling effects reported in the literature may underestimate the power of negative self-fulfilling prophecies to harm targets because studies have not taken into consideration the possibility that negative self-fulfilling prophecies may be more likely than positive ones to accumulate across multiple perceivers.     

Gender and Ethnic Differences in Obesity-Related Behaviors and Attitudes In a College Sample

This study looked at gender and Black/White differences for a number of variables related to attitudes toward obesity in a sample of 650 college students. The overall stereotypes of overweight persons were both negative and unrelated to subjects' own degree of obesity, although individuals reported that their personal views were less negative than those of others.
Women indicated greater concern with obesity than men in several ways, and the societal stereotype of an overweight woman was seen as more negative than that of an overweight man. Men were more concerned about a date's weight than women, and White women's weight (unlike that of other subgroups) was negatively related to their likelihood and frequency of dating. Although Blacks, particularly Black females, were heavier than Whites, they were more satisfied with their body shape. Black males were less likely than White males to have refused to date someone because of her weight, and Blacks personally considered overweight women to be more attractive, sexier, less ugly, and less sloppy than did Whites. The findings suggest that both gender and ethnicity should be considered when discussing people's attitudes towards obesity and the consequences of such attitudes.