Obesity

The treatment of obesity has been a challenge for health professionals. Treatment failures point to the need for research to isolate variables contributing to success. A major drawback in most of the research is the lack of long-term follow-up evaluations. The purpose of this study was to identify variables which may predict an individual's success at maintaining weight loss. The two independent variables studied were status of weight control and methods of treatment. The status of weight control had two levels: individuals who maintained a weight loss for at least two years (maintainers) and individuals who had regained weight loss (regainers). The method of treatment had three levels: group, individual, and self-administered. The dependent variable was locus of control, which indicates how individuals perceive control over their environment. Individuals who perceived they had control over their environment were classified as having an internal locus of control, while those individuals who perceived they did not have control over their environment were classified as external. There were 54 females over the age of 21, who qualified as subjects. Subject selection was based on the Weight History Questionnaire. The Reid and Ware Three Factor Internal-External Scale was administered to all subjects and provided three separate locus of control scores: self-control, social system control, and fatalism. A 2 x 3 analysis of variance factorial design was utilized for each of the internal-external factors. The results showed a significant difference on the self-control and fatalism factor, where the maintainers were more internal than the regainers. The maintainers and the regainers, also differed significantly in age, highest weight achieved, and maintenance period. No significant differences were found on the social system control factor. A significant interaction effect was found on the fatalism factor. The possible significance of using locus of control to facilitate weight control may be found in the self-control and fatalism factors. Internal self-control and internal fatalism was shown to be characteristics of maintainers. The fatalism factor also showed that internals were more successful in a self-administered program or an individual treatment, whereas externals were more successful in a group treatment.

This study examines whether obesity affects the accuracy of estimating age-at-death as measured by the age-related changes of the pubic symphysis and auricular surfaces. I scored the hip bones of 119 adults of normal body mass and 126 obese adults (total n = 254) using the SucheyBrooks (1990) method for the pubic symphysis and the Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002) method for the auricular surface. Compared to normal weight individuals, obese individuals exhibited greater inaccuracy in age-at-death estimates when aged from the auricular surface, but not the pubic symphysis. However, age was estimated with less precision in obese individuals using both methods. Obese males are more likely to be aged inaccurately than obese females. The pubic symphysis method may be the preferred method when estimating age in obese individuals, especially males, but forensic anthropologists should use caution when assessing age-at-death in obese adults using either method.