Do Obese Women Have Poorer Social Relationships Than Nonobese Women? Reports by Self,Friends, and Coworkers

Both theory and research suggest that obese women may have relatively poor social relationships even if their self-reports about their relationships do not differ from the reports of nonobese women. Seventy-seven obese and 78 nonobese women completed self-report measures of social anxiety, social self-esteem, social competence, social network size, and perceived social support from friends and family. Friends and coworkers also rated these women on the same measures. The self-reports of obese and nonobese women did not differ significantly on any of these social measures, and ratings from friends and coworkers of obese women were not different from ratings of nonobese women by friends and coworkers. These results suggest that obese women may be able to overcome prejudice against obese people in their relationships with others.     

Communication and social skills in socially anxious and nonanxious individuals in the context of romantic relationships

This study examined differences between socially anxious and nonanxious individuals' ability to use effective communication skills and social skills in the context of romantic relationships. Socially anxious (n = 13) and nonanxious (n = 14) individuals and their romantic partners were videotaped while participating in 10-minute neutral, negative, and pleasant conversations. Regardless of the type of conversation in which they were involved, socially anxious individuals demonstrated impairment in 10 of the 11 social skill variables assessed. In negative conversations, socially anxious individuals displayed more "very negative" behaviors than nonanxious individuals, and across all conversations they displayed fewer "positive" behaviors than nonanxious individuals. Partners of socially anxious and nonanxious individuals did not differ in their communication quality. The results suggest that social anxiety is associated with deficits in relationship maintenance behavior and call for the completion of a larger study examining the interpersonal consequences of social anxiety.     

Poor social performance of lonely people: lacking a skill or adopting a role?

A substantial literature has shown that lonely people differ from nonlonely people on a variety of measures of social performance. These differences have usually been conceptualized as a social skills deficit, which implies that lonely people lack the ability to perform appropriate and effective social behavior. Rather than a lack of this ability, the authors hypothesize that the adoption of passive interpersonal roles predisposes lonely people to exhibit inadequate performance. In order to test this hypothesis, lonely and nonlonely subjects were assigned to one of two roles: They either listened (Condition Li) to an interaction partner describe a personal problem or they themselves described a personal problem (Condition Pr) to their partner. The subjects' interpersonal role produced a substantial effect on their social behavior. Subjects who listened to their partner describe a problem generated more solutions to a set of hypothetical situations, attended to their partners more adequately, and conversed longer than did subjects who described a personal problem. In contrast, lonely subjects did not differ from nonlonely subjects in their social performance within each particular role. Lonely and nonlonely subjects did differ, however, in their subjective evaluations of themselves and of their performance. These results illustrate the need for research to address both the interpersonal and the intrapersonal bases of social performance.     

THE SOCIAL STIGMA OF MENSTRUATION

In a study examining the effects of a social stigma on impression management concerns, 28 menstruating and 30 nonmenstruating women were interviewed by a male confederate who either was or was not aware of their menstrual condition. Relative to menstruating women who thought the interviewer was unaware of their menstrual condition, menstruating women who believed that the interviewer knew they were menstruating perceived that the interviewer liked them less, yet were less motivated to make an impression on him. Nonmenstruating women reported more self-presentational motivation and perceived that the interviewer viewed them more positively than he did the menstruating women. These results suggest that the interviewer's knowledge of their menstrual condition inhibited menstruating women's self-presentational motivation. Implications of this social stigma for interpersonal relationships are discussed.     

Gender differences in social consequences of perceived overweight in the United States and Australia

This study investigated attitudes about body weight and appearance in a group of young adults. Undergraduate psychology students at the Flinders University of South Australia and at the University of Vermont were asked about their weight and dieting, consciousness about their body, the degree to which their weight had interfered with social activities, their perceptions about the causes of obseity, and their stereotypes about fat and thin men and women. Although 20% of the sample was overweight, 50% of subjects perceived themselves to be overweight to some degree. As expected, weight was a much greater issue for women, who felt more overweight, dieted more, expressed more body consciousness, and reported that weight had interfered more with social activities than did men. Also as expected, Vermont students reported greater frequency of dieting, more concern about weight, and more body consciousness than did students in Australia. Finally, men and women in both cultures stereotyped obese targets significantly more negatively than they did nonobese targets. The results indicate excessive and maladaptive concerns with weight in general, and among women and U.S. students in particular.     

When the heat is on: romantic partner responses influence distress in socially anxious women

This study provided a preliminary test of whether socially anxious women and their partners would show more negative social support behavior, especially among those with low relationship satisfaction, and whether this would increase the distress of the socially anxious women. Women with (n=22) and without (n=23) heightened social anxiety were observed interacting with their partners under a social-evaluative threat and support behaviors were coded. Unexpectedly, no differences were found between socially and non-socially anxious women and their partners. Although relationship satisfaction influenced this process, it was the more satisfied women who showed more negative behavior. Additionally, the more positive behaviors the partner exhibited, the greater was the distress reported by socially anxious women, particularly among women whose partners reported high relationship satisfaction. Implications for how these findings might expand theories on interpersonal processes in social anxiety are discussed.     

Social skills deficits among the socially anxious: Rejection from others and loneliness

Based on evidence linking social anxiety with social skills deficits, it was hypothesized that socially anxious individuals would exhibit diminished social skills in a naturalistic interaction, relative to socially nonanxious persons, and that they would also elicit rejection from their conversational partners and experience loneliness. Socially anxious and nonanxious persons were surreptitiously videotaped while they waited with partners for an experiment to begin. Analyses of subjects' social skills indicated that, behaviorally, the socially anxious appear very similar to their nonanxious peers. At the same time, however, they exhibited a tendency to negatively misperceive their own social skills. Although socially anxious persons did not elicit significantly more rejection from their conversational partners, they did report being more lonely than nonanxious persons. Socially anxious subjects were also rated by their conversational partners as lower in social skill than were nonanxious subjects. Implications for further study of social skills among the socially anxious are discussed.We would like to thank Richard Davidson for his assistance in recruiting subjects: Dean Geller, Lynn Jorgenson, Joey Kaupie, and Karen Toft for their assistance with data collection; and Andrea Attebery, Monica Bannon, Noreen Checci, Heather Collier, Michelle Givertz, Perry Loeder, Lisa Meyer, Nancy Nell, Beth O'Keefe, Bruce Rist, Becky Sapinski, and Shaunda Wenberg for their assistance as coders.     

Community-Based Interventions to Reduce Low Income, African American Women's Risk of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Three Theoretical Models

A community-based sample of disadvantaged African American women (n = 445) was recruited to participate in 1 of 3 theoretically driven experimental interventions based on either the theory of gender and power, social learning theory, or cognitive behavioral theory. Intervention outcomes were compared with a waiting list control condition. From baseline to postintervention, women in the experimental interventions showed differential change on cognitive indices (knowledge and attitudes) and skill acquisition (partner negotiation skills, correct condom application, lubricant selection, and information-provision to social networks) whereas control participants were unchanged. Women in the 3 experimental interventions also completed follow-up assessments for 1 year following the interventions. In all 3 experimental conditions, condom use increased relative to the control group and there were no differences between the experimental interventions. Women who participated in one of the theoretically grounded interventions continued to increase condom use over the following year. Women entering new relationships reported significantly more condom use than did women who remained in ongoing relationships. The findings suggest that intervention models that have proven effective for women who engage in high-risk behavior may be less effective for women in established relationships for whom risk is primarily derived from the extrarelationship behavior of their partners.     

Women and weight: fad and fiction

In this article, I argue that women's concern with body weight is a "fad," when taken in an historical context, and is limited to Western societies. I have presented evidence that the following aspects of weight are myths rather than reality: (a) There are objective definitions of obesity; (b) obesity is prevalent among women; (c) obese people take in more calories than the nonobese; (d) dieting is an effective way to reduce weight; and (e) obesity is related to poor physical health.     

Male Partners' Appraisals of Undesired Pregnancy and Abortion: Implications for Women's Adjustment to Abortion

The impact of men's attributions for pregnancy and expectations for coping with abortion on their partner's post-abortion adjustment was examined. Men's and women's attributions and coping expectations were assessed in a sample of 73 couples prior to obtaining a first-trimester abortion of an undesired pregnancy. Women's depression was assessed 30 minutes post-abortion. Partners did not differ in their coping expectations or attributions of the pregnancy to chance, situation, another person, or their own behavior, but men blamed the pregnancy more on their own character than did their partners. Male partner's coping expectancies affected women's adjustment only if the women themselves had low coping expectancies. Among women with low coping expectancies, those accompanied by partners who also had low coping expectancies were the most depressed. Men's attributions were unrelated to their partner's adjustment.     

SEXIST DISCRIMINATION AS DISTANCING BEHAVIOR: I. A LABORATORY DEMONSTRATION

Attitudes toward and beliefs about women have been studied but investigations of behavior directed toward women in simple interpersonal situations have been relatively infrequent, in this study, ten previously unacquainted pairs of men, ten pairs of women, and twenty mixed–gender pairs were observed during a 10-minute task in which each pair constructed a domino structure for a contest. Under these laboratory conditions in which sexual arousal and nurturance cues were minimal it was predicted that men would behave differently toward women partners than toward men partners by manifesting avoidance or distancing behavior more frequently, but that women's responses to other–gender and same–gender partners would not be reliably different. Dependent measures were obtained by self–report and by ratings of observers who watched the dyadic interaction behind a one–way vision screen. As predicted, women in mixed–gender pairs did not differ significantly from those in same–gender pairs on any measure, but men were found to distance themselves from a woman partner (as compared to a man) by turning their faces or bodies away and making negative comments, by not following advice, and by placing dominoes closer to themselves.     

STEREOTYPE THREAT AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE ON A NOVEL VISUOSPATIAL TASK

Stereotype threat research has shown that being a member of a negatively stereotyped group may result in impaired performance on tests of skills thought to be relevant to the stereotype. This study investigated whether stereotype threat influences gender differences in performance on a novel test of visuospatial ability. Undergraduates ( N  = 194) were told that men outperform women on the test (explicit threat), were given no gender-relevant information (implicit threat), or were told that men and women do not differ (nullified stereotype). Although men outperformed women in the explicit and implicit stereotype threat groups, women's performance did not differ significantly from men's when told there is no gender difference. The effect was most pronounced for difficult line judgments. Although stereotypes regarding visuospatial ability may be less culturally salient than those of other cognitive abilities, these findings suggest that they influence performance nonetheless. Implications for optimizing cognitive test performance are discussed.     

“How Many Partners Is Too Many?” Shaping Perceptions of Personal Vulnerability1

The effectiveness of interventions that directly inform people of the risks posed by their own behavior is frequently undermined by people's ability to defend themselves against unwanted information. In response to this difficulty, an alternative approach to shaping people's perceptions of personal vulnerability in which people remained unaware of the intervention was tested. As part of a survey on sexual issues, college undergraduates reported the total number of sexual partners they had had on a response scale that systematically framed their sexual behavior as being either above average or below average. Participants in the 2 conditions reported the same absolute number of sexual partners. However, those who received a response scale that implied they had had more partners than the average student reported greater concern about their sexual behavior than did those who received a scale that implied they had had fewer partners than average. The implications of this approach for influencing perceptions of personal risk are discussed.     

Social reciprocity in handicapped and nonhandicapped children in a dyadic play situation

Social reciprocity behavior was compared for handicapped and nonhandicapped preschool children when they were in play situations with both handicapped and nonhandicapped partners. In a counterbalanced design, handicapped and nonhandicapped children were paired with both handicapped and nonhandicapped play partners, and the social initiation and response sequences of the dyads were observed. Types of initiation observed were friendly statements, friendly questions, mildly negative advances, and demanding statements. Friendly, ignoring, and negative responses were observed to these initiations. Handicapped and nonhandicapped children did not differ on overall number of initiations. However, they did differ on the types of initiation they made. Handicapped children asked fewer friendly questions and engaged in more demanding initiations than expected. Both groups made more initiations when paired with handicapped partners than when paired with nonhandicapped partners, but the groups did not differ on the types of initiation made to handicapped and nonhandicapped partners. The handicapped children made more ignoring and negative responses to friendly initiations than the nonhandicapped children. Behaving similarly, both groups tended to respond negatively to negative and demanding initiations.     

Représentations sociales de la personne obèse et de l’obésité : effets de la situation de contact

This paper introduces a study about social representations of obese people and obesity. Two hundred normal-weighted women divided in two groups (presence vs absence of contact with an obese person) completed a word association tasks with inductive words “obese people” and “obesity”. Two instructions were proposed: one in which they responded for themselves (standard instruction) and another in which they responded for someone else (substitution instruction). Results of the Correspondences Factor Analysis support the hypothesis of an intergroup contact effect on the explored social representations’ organization. Participants in contact with obese people seem to have a more empathetic representation than those who have no contact. Indeed, when participants did not respond for themselves, counter-normative representations were produced: stereotypical elements and a judgment on the physical characteristics were expressed. These results were discussed regarding theories of intergroup contact and of social representations.     

The costs and benefits of sexism: resistance to influence during relationship conflict

This study tested whether men's and women's hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS) were associated with resistance to influence in couples' conflict interactions. Ninety-one heterosexual couples were recorded while trying to produce desired changes in each other. Participants reviewed their discussions and rated how open they were to their partner's perspective. Objective coders also rated the extent to which each partner exhibited hostile communication. We tested key principles arising from ambivalent sexism theory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). First, BS is necessary because mutual interdependence reduces the power of HS to influence women within intimate relationships. We found that the more men endorsed HS, the less open and more hostile both partners were, and the less successful their discussions were in producing desired change. Second, BS reduces the threat of women's dyadic power by revering and respecting women's interpersonal roles while restricting women's influence outside the relationship domain. We found that men who expressed higher agreement with BS were more open to their partners' influence and behaved with less hostility, and their discussions were more successful. These relationship benefits illustrate why BS is effective at disarming women's resistance to wider inequalities. These benefits, however, were contingent on men adopting BS attitudes. When women strongly endorsed BS but their male partner did not, women were less open, behaved with greater hostility, and perceived their discussions as less successful. These results indicate that, because BS increases the stakes within the relationship domain, women who endorse BS will react more negatively when their expectations are not realized.     

An advocacy intervention program for women with abusive partners: Initial evaluation

Experimentally tested the hypotheses that (1) battered women are in need of numerous community resources upon exit from a domestic violence shelter, (2) working with advocates increases women's effectiveness in obtaining needed resources and social support, and (3) success in obtaining resources and social support increases women's levels of life satisfaction and decreases their risk of further abuse. The initial findings of a short-term intervention project designed to provide postshelter advocacy services to women with abusive partners are presented. One-hundred forty-one battered women were interviewed immediately upon their exit from a domestic violence shelter as well as 10 weeks thereafter. Half the sample was randomly assigned to receive the services of trained advocates who assisted them in accessing needed community resources. Women who worked with advocates reported being more effective in accessing resources and had higher levels of social support and overall quality of life postintervention. Although all women reported some decrease in postshelter abuse, there were no differences between those with and those without advocates, and abuse continued to be a problem for many women.     

Perceived social support, self-efficacy, and adjustment to abortion

Prior to their having a 1st trimester abortion, women's perceptions of social support from their partner, family, and friends and self-efficacy for coping were assessed. Depression, mood, physical complaints, and anticipation of negative consequences were measured after the 30-min recovery period. As predicted, perceived social support enhanced adjustment indirectly through its effects on self-efficacy. Women who perceived high support from their family, friends, and partners had higher self-efficacy for coping. Higher self-efficacy, in turn, predicted better adjustment on the psychological measures but not on the physical complaint measure. No direct path between social support and adjustment was observed. In addition, women who told close others of their abortion but perceived them as less than completely supportive had poorer postabortion psychological adjustment than either women who did not tell or women who told and perceived complete support.     

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.     

Body size preferences and sociocultural influences on attitudes towards obesity among Moroccan Sahraoui women

The purpose of this investigation was to study body size preferences and to examine the influence of sociocultural factors on obesity among 249 Moroccan Sahraoui women. Participants rated their ideal body size and the size they thought to be “healthy,” using a figural scale consisting of nine images ranging from thin to obese. They also noted which particular sociocultural influences affected their body size ratings. The results indicated that women's rating of ideal body size (4.88) was significantly larger than their rating of healthy body size (4.33). The desire to lose weight was very low even among the majority of obese women, and educational level did not affect desire to lose weight. Women not satisfied with their body size were more likely to report trying to gain weight rather than to lose it. The major factors reported to influence body size ideal were mothers, men, and traditional clothing. It is an enormous challenge for the health institutions of Morocco to prevent obesity and its complications. Prevention programs should include teenagers and key family members.