Log in to Introduction to Sociology, 7e eBook

W.W. Norton

Log in to Introduction to Sociology, 7e eBook

Stigma, obesity, and the health of the nation’s children

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity — News & Events — Recent Publications

Puhl RM, Latner JD. Stigma, obesity, and the health of the nation’s children. Psychol Bull. 2007 Jul;133(4):557-80.

Preventing childhood obesity has become a top priority in efforts to improve our nation's public health. Although much research is needed to address this health crisis, it is important to approach childhood obesity with an understanding of the social stigma that obese youths face, which is pervasive and can have serious consequences for emotional and physical health. This report reviews existing research on weight stigma in children and adolescents, with attention to the nature and extent of weight bias toward obese youths and to the primary sources of stigma in their lives, including peers, educators, and parents. The authors also examine the literature on psychosocial and physical health consequences of childhood obesity to illustrate the role that weight stigma may play in mediating negative health outcomes. The authors then review stigma-reduction efforts that have been tested to improve attitudes toward obese children, and they highlight complex questions about the role of weight bias in childhood obesity prevention. With these literatures assembled, areas of research are outlined to guide efforts on weight stigma in youths, with an emphasis on the importance of studying the effect of weight stigma on physical health outcomes and identifying effective interventions to improve attitudes.


See Table 1. Key Conclusions of Research Evidence Addressing Weight Bias in Youth. p. 573

The stigma of obesity: A review and update.

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity — News & Events — Recent Publications

Puhl RM, Heuer CA. The stigma of obesity: A review and update. Obesity. 2009 Jan.

Obese individuals are highly stigmatized and face multiple forms of weight-based prejudice and discrimination. This paper provides an update of scientific evidence on weight bias toward overweight and obese adults through a systematic review of published literature since the original review on this topic published in 2001 by Puhl & Brownell. Findings of this review indicate that weight bias remains a persistent social problem in settings of employment, health care, and education. Expanding beyond these domains, recent studies also demonstrate the presence of weight bias in the media and in close interpersonal relationships. In addition, the emerging literature shows that weight bias poses significant threats to emotional and physical health of obese individuals. The need for stigma-reduction interventions and other important avenues for future research are highlighted, with attention to key research questions that can help move the field forward.

See Table 1. Summary of key findings and evidence to date. p. 8.

Perceptions of weight discrimination: Prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America.

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity — News & Events — Recent Publications

Puhl RM, Andreyeva T, Brownell KD. Perceptions of weight discrimination: Prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America. Int J Obes. 2008 Mar 4.

Limited data are available on the prevalence and patterns of body weight discrimination from representative samples. This study examined experiences of weight/height discrimination in a nationally representative sample of US adults and compared their prevalence and patterns with discrimination experiences based on race and gender. The prevalence of weight/height discrimination ranged from 5% among men to 10% among women, but these average percentages obscure the much higher risk of weight discrimination among heavier individuals (40% for adults with body mass index (BMI) of 35 and above). Younger individuals with a higher BMI had a particularly high risk of weight/height discrimination regardless of their race, education and weight status.

See Figure 1. Rates of perceived discrimination among Americans aged 25–74 years. p. 5.

Changes in perceived weight discrimination among Americans, 1995-1996 through 2004-2006.

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity — News & Events — Recent Publications

Andreyeva T, Puhl RM, Brownell KD. Changes in perceived weight discrimination among Americans, 1995-1996 through 2004-2006. Obesity. 2008 Feb 28.

This study examined trends in weight discrimination over 10 years among a nationally representative sample of adults aged 35-74 years from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. Reports of weight discrimination were compared to experiences of discrimination based on race, age and gender. The prevalence of weight discrimination increased from 7% in 1995-1996 to 12% in 2004-2006. During this same time period, race discrimination remained stable, whereas the prevalence of weight discrimination increased to levels comparable with those reported for race and age discrimination. In summary, weight/height discrimination is highly prevalent in American society and increasing at disturbing rates. Its prevalence is relatively close to reported rates of race and age discrimination, but virtually no legal or social sanctions against weight discrimination exist.

See Figure 1. Trends in rates of perceived discrimination among Americans
aged 35–74 between 1995–1996 and 2004–2006. p. 2.

And see Table 2. Trends in obesity and perceived weight/height discrimination among Americans aged 35–74 between 1995–1996 and
2004–2006. p. 2.

This TED video by Clay Shirky is a MUST see

Engaged Learning » Blog Archive » The New Communication Model

This TED video by Clay Shirky is a MUST see. As you watch it, think about your organization. How will communication, collaboration and learning happen differently? Or how SHOULD it happen differently?! Why do we ask? Because communication has changed. Just look at the Twitter conversation that has happened around the Iran elections. It changes the way we work, create, innovate, learn – the list goes on…

Facebook, Twitter users are affluent and urban, study shows

Facebook, Twitter users are affluent and urban, study shows

The survey, which studied the top seven social networking sites, showed that Facebook users generally have an "upscale profile." Nielsen also noted that people who are more affluent than the other two-thirds of the population are 25% more likely to use Facebook than those in the the lower third. And conversely, those in the bottom third of the financial chart are 37% more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third

Points of Migration

Center for Migration and Development (CMD)

Points of Migration

Assessing Your Divorce Risk - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

Assessing Your Divorce Risk - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

What are the odds of your marriage ending in divorce?

This is a risk with some pretty important consequences, but chances are, you don’t have the foggiest idea on how to quantify it. Until now.

My favorite economist (and my significant other), Betsey Stevenson, has put together a neat online widget for the folks at Divorce360.com. The widget crunches recent marital history data to assess your chances of getting divorced, and it does this by taking account of some very simple demographics. Learn your divorce risk here.

The Associated Press: More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

The Associated Press: More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

That makes poor children almost totally dependent on their learning experience at school, said Karl Alexander, a sociology professor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, home of the National Center for Summer Learning.

Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams.

"If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it's hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be," Alexander said.

Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Results (CA Dept of Education)

Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Results (CA Dept of Education)

API Reports - Academic Performance Index (CA Dept of Education)

API Reports - Academic Performance Index (CA Dept of Education)

The Reading Literacy of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context Results From the 2001 and 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

The Reading Literacy of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context Results From the 2001 and 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

The results show that the average reading comprehension score of U.S. fourth-grade students in 2006 was higher than the average score of students in 22 of the 44 other countries and educational jurisdictions that participated in the PIRLS assessment. Ten countries and educational jurisdictions had average scores higher than the scores of U.S. students; average scores of students in the remaining 12 countries and educational jurisdictions were not significantly different from the scores of U.S. students.

The changing impact of marriage and children on women’s labor force participation

Table of Contents, Monthly Labor Review Online, February 2009

The changing impact of marriage and children on women’s labor force participation

Why women have sex | Life and style | The Guardian

Why women have sex | Life and style | The Guardian

And so to the main reason women have sex. The idol of "women do it for love, and men for joy" lies broken on the rug like a mutilated sex toy: it's orgasm, orgasm, orgasm. "A lot of women in our studies said they just wanted sex for the pure physical pleasure," Meston says. Meston and Buss garnish this revelation with so much amazing detail that I am distracted. I can't concentrate. Did you know that the World Health Organisation has a Women's Orgasm Committee? That "the G-spot" is named after the German physician Ernst Gräfenberg? That there are 26 definitions of orgasm?