Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:46:33.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Body image in obese adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

G. D. Pearlson ,
L. H. Flournoy ,
M. Simonson  and
P. R. Slavney
G. D. Pearlson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
L. H. Flournoy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
M. Simonson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
P. R. Slavney
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr G. D. Pearlson, Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Data were gathered on 38 obese women and 16 obese men attending a weight-reduction programme and on an equal number of normal weight controls, regarding accuracy of perception of body width in 4 regions, as well as attitudes towards body size. Obese subjects, particularly women, tended to overestimate body width and to dislike their bodies, but neither of these factors predicted success in losing weight. Age of onset of obesity was not related to degree of adult obesity or to accuracy of estimation of body width.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 147 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allebeck, P., Hallberg, D. & Espmark, S. (1976). Body image – an apparatus for measuring disturbances in estimation of size and shape. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 20, 583–589.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allon, N. (1979). Self-perceptions of the stigma of overweight in relationship to weight-losing patterns. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 32, 470–480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bailey, W., Shinedling, M. M. & Payne, I. R. (1970). Obese individuals' perception of body image. Perceptual and Motor Skills 31, 617–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brantley, H. T. & Clifford, E. (1979). Cognitive, self-concept, and body image measures of normal, cleft palate, and obese adolescents. Cleft Palate Journal 16, 177–182.Google ScholarPubMed
Bruch, H. (1973). Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Within. Basic Books: New York.Google Scholar
Button, E. J., Fransella, F. & Slade, P. D. (1977). A reappraisal of body perception disturbance in anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine 7, 235–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caine, T. M. & Hope, K. (1967). Manual of the Hysteroid Obsessoid Questionnaire (HOQ). University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Cappon, D. & Banks, R. (1968). Distorted body perception in obesity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 146, 465–467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casper, R., Halmi, K., Goldberg, S. C., Eckert, E. D. & Davis, J. M. (1979). Disturbances in body image estimation as related to other characteristics and outcome in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry 134, 60–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A. H. & Kalucy, R. S. (1974). Aspects of the perceptual disorder in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Medical Psychology 47, 347–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garfinkel, P. E., Moldofsky, H. & Garner, D. M. (1977). Prognosis in anorexia nervosa as influenced by clinical features, treatment and self-perception. Canadian Medical Association Journal 117, 1041–1045.Google ScholarPubMed
Garfinkel, P. E., Moldofsky, H., Garner, D. M., Stancer, H. C. & Coscina, D. V. (1978). Body awareness in anorexia nervosa: disturbances in body image and satiety. Psychosomatic Medicine 40, 487–498.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E., Stancer, H. C. & Moldofsky, H. (1976). Body image disturbances in anorexia nervosa and obesity. Psychosomatic Medicine 38, 327–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E. & Moldofsky, H. (1978). Perceptual experiences in anorexia nervosa and obesity. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 23, 249–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glucksman, M. L. & Hirsch, J. (1969). The response of obese patients to weight reduction: III. The perception of body size. Psychosomatic Medicine 31, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, S. H. (1977). Social aspects of body image: perception of normalcy of weight and affect of college undergraduates. Perceptual and Motor Skills 45, 1035–1040.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grinker, J., Hirsch, J. & Levin, B. (1973). The affective responses of obese patients to weight reduction: a differentiation based on age of onset of obesity. Psychosomatic Medicine 35, 57–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halmi, K., Goldberg, S. C. & Cunningham, S. (1977). Perceptual distortion of body image in adolescent girls: distortion of body image in adolescence. Psychological Medicine 7, 253–257.Google Scholar
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (1959). Table of desirable body weights. Statistical Bulletin 40, 2–3.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. E. & Tuchelt-Gallwitz, A. (1968). A study on social image, body image and the problem of psychogenetic factors in obesity. Comprehensive Psychiatry 9, 148–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rand, C. & Stunkard, A. (1978). Obesity and psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 547–551.Google ScholarPubMed
Schiebel, D. & Castelnuovo-Tedesco, P. (1978). Studies of superobesity: III. Body image changes after jejuno-ileal surgery. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 8, 117–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schonbuch, S. S. & Schell, R. E. (1967). Judgments of body appearance by fat and skinny male college students. Perceptual and Motor Skills 24, 999–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipman, W. & Sohlkhah, N. (1967). Body image distortion in obese women. Psychosomatic Medicine 29, 540.Google Scholar
Slade, P. D. (1977). Awareness of body dimensions during pregnancy: an analogue study. Psychological Medicine 7, 245–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slade, P. D. & Russell, G. F. M. (1973 a). Experimental investigations of bodily perception in anorexia nervosa and obesity. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 22, 359–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slade, P. D. & Russell, G. F. M. (1973 b). Awareness of body dimensions in anorexia nervosa: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Psychological Medicine 3, 188–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strober, M., Goldenberg, I., Green, J. & Saxon, J. (1979). Body image disturbance in anorexia nervosa during the acute and recuperative phase. Psychological Medicine 9, 695–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stunkard, A. & Burt, V. (1967). Obesity and the body image: II. Age at onset of disturbances in the body image. American Journal of Psychiatry 123, 1443–1447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stunkard, A. & Mendelson, M. (1967). Obesity and the body image: I. characteristics of disturbances in the body image of some obese persons. American Journal of Psychiatry 123, 1296–1300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed