Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2000, pp. 137-145
© 2000 Society of Pediatric Psychology
Special Section: Peer Relationships |
Children's Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Toward a Peer Presented as Obese: Does a Medical Explanation for the Obesity Make a Difference?
The University of Memphis
All correspondence should be sent to Sam B. Morgan, Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38138. E-mail: sam-morgan{at}mail.psych.memphis.edu .
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Abstract |
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Objective: To examine the effect of information on children's attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a peer presented as obese.
Methods: Children (N = 184) were randomly assigned to observe a video of a boy or girl in one of three conditions: average-weight, obese, obese with medical information explaining the obesity. They rated stereotypical attitudes on the Adjective Checklist and behavioral intentions on the Shared Activities Questionnaire (SAQ-B).
Results: Ratings were generally more favorable for the average-weight than for the obese condition. However, provision of medical information had a positive effect on attitudes toward the obese peer only for younger children and a negative effect on willingness of older children to share academic activities with the peer. Boys and girls showed more positive behavioral intentions toward the same-sex target child regardless of obesity condition.
Conclusions: Information explaining obesity has a minimal positive effect on children's attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a peer presented as obese.
Key words: childhood obesity; attitudes; behavioral intentions.
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Introduction |
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Children with medical conditions or physical disabilities often confront negative attitudes from their peers. A worthwhile goal for health care professionals is to inculcate more positive attitudes in children toward peers with such disorders through providing information about the condition (Potter & Roberts, 1984
).
Such information may be oriented toward helping children understand that the
affected child may bear no responsibility for having the condition
(Sigelman, 1991). An essential
question is whether such attitudes are indeed influenced by the degree of
responsibility children attribute to the peer for the condition.
Of all these conditions, peers view obesity as one of the most stigmatizing
and least acceptable (DeJong,
1993). Research has shown that children rate obese peers as less
liked and less preferred as friends or playmates than they do nonobese peers
or peers with other handicaps (e.g.,
Harper, Wacker, & Seaborg-Cobb,
1986; Richardson, Goodman,
Hastorf, & Dornbusch, 1961). Based on Weiner's attribution
theory, one would predict, however, that children's affective responses or
attitudes toward the affected peer would be more favorable if they view the
problem as beyond rather than within the peer's control
(Weiner & Graham,
1984).
Research findings have failed to consistently support the validity of the
assumption that increasing a child's understanding of a medical condition will
correspondingly improve the child's attitude toward and acceptance of a peer
affected with the condition. For example, Potter and Roberts
(1984) presented children with
written vignettes about a peer with epilepsy or diabetes and found that
children given explanatory information perceived the peer as less attractive
than did children who received only descriptive information. Similarly,
Friedrich, Morgan, and Devine
(1996) found that information
about Tourette's disorder failed to improve children's attitudes and
behavioral intentions toward a peer showing symptoms of the disorder in video
presentations.
Several studies have applied Weiner's attribution hypothesis specifically
to childhood obesity. Sigelman
(1991), for example, presented
audio vignettes to elementary children and found that provision of
low-responsibility information reduced the children's tendency to hold an
obese girl or wheelchairbound girl responsible for her condition but did not
alter their liking for the obese girl. She concluded that liking was more
related to the nature of the condition than to its perceived cause. DeJong
(1993) found that high school
girls rated an obese peer viewed by video more favorably on measures of
perceived self-indulgence and self-discipline when informed that the target
child's obesity problem was due to a thyroid gland disorder. However, on the
liking dimension, the girls rated the obese girl with medical explanation
slightly, but not significantly, more negatively than the same child with no
explanation.
In this study, we examined factors affecting children's attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a peer presented as obese. We were especially interested in whether these attitudes and intentions were influenced by information attributing the obesity to a medical cause and by the type of activity to be engaged in with the peer. Because most of the previous research has used written vignettes or audiotapes, we wanted to determine if similar findings could be obtained when the obese child and normal-weight child were presented through video. Through video presentation, the visual impact of the obesity could be more directly assessed. Moreover, the participants could see the child in action—walking, sitting, and addressing them.
We also wanted to assess children's responses on two different types of
measures—one assessing stereotypic attitudes and the other behavioral
intentions. Gottlieb and Gottlieb
(1977) propose that certain
measures, such as the Adjective Checklist
(Siperstein & Bak, 1977)
used in this study, assess the cognitive component of attitudes as
reflected through the positive or negative features that children may ascribe
to a person with a disability. However, measures of behavioral intentions tap
the conative component of attitudes—that is, the degree to
which children are willing to commit their own behavior toward acceptance or
rejection of a person with a disability.
A modified form of the Shared Activities Questionnaire (SAQ-B;
Morgan, Bieberich, Walker, & Bell,
1996) was used to assess behavioral intentions, that is,
children's willingness to engage in certain types of activities with the
target child as reflected by ratings on subscales representing three activity
areas (i.e., general social, academic, and active recreational). Strohmer,
Grand, and Purcell (1984)
proposed the term functional specificity in describing how acceptance
of individuals with a physical handicap may be influenced by the functional
demands of particular situations; this factor may be especially salient when
children perceive the physical condition as a disadvantage in certain
activities. The results of some research (e.g.,
Harper et al., 1986;
Nabors & Morgan, 1993)
provide some support for this hypothesis that the type of context or activity
plays a role in the acceptance of an individual with a physical
disability.
Two other variables that may affect attitudes toward obesity are age and
gender. Cohen, Klesges, Summerville, and Meyers
(1989) found that first and
third grade boys' sociometric rankings were more negatively affected by
obesity than were fifth grade boys' rankings. Although the age range in this
study was restricted to third through six grade, we wanted to see if this
relationship held with younger as well as older children within this range. We
were also interested in whether gender—of the responding child and of
the target child—might influence children's ratings. Boys have been
found to respond less favorably than girls toward peers who are obese
(Cohen, Budesheim, MacDonald, & Eymard,
1997; Cohen et al.,
1989). However, Cohen et al.
(1997) found that responses to
audio vignettes about obese children did not vary significantly based on
gender of the target child.
This study specifically assessed children's attitudes (Adjective Checklist) and behavioral intentions (SAQ-B) toward a peer presented via video under three conditions: average-weight, obese, and obese with medical information (obese/info). The following hypotheses were tested:
- On both measures children will rate the peer in the obese condition less
positively than they rate the peer in the average-weight condition.
- The presentation of medical information in the obese/info condition will
have a positive effect on their Adjective Checklist ratings but no effect on
their SAQ-B ratings. This prediction is primarily based on DeJong's finding
that medical information explaining obesity improved ratings of traits (which
are assessed by the Adjective Checklist) but not of liking (which is more
related to behavioral intentions).
- On the SAQ-B, children will show less willingness to engage in social and
recreational activities with the peer in the two obese conditions than with
the peer presented as average weight. Even with explantory information,
children with obesity would be expected to be less preferred than nonobese
children for activities in which their obesity might be perceived as a
disadvantage (Harper et al.,
1986; Nabors & Morgan,
1993).
- On both measures, older children's ratings will be less negatively
influenced than younger children's by obesity in the peer and will be more
positively influenced by medical information.
- On both measures, girls will be less negatively influenced than boys by
obesity in the peer. However, higher ratings will be given by both boys and
girls to the target child of the same gender, regardless of obesity
status.
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Method |
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Participants
Participants were 184 children in the third through sixth grades at an urban public school. The children were recruited via a parental permission/informed consent form distributed by teachers. The participation rate was approximately 70%. The gender distribution was 88 boys and 96 girls; the racial distribution was 110 whites and 74 African Americans. The predominant socioeconomic status of these children was middle class, as evidenced by the fact that only about 12% of students at that school receive reduced or subsidized lunch prices. To examine age effects with sufficient power, we combined the third and fourth grade for the younger group (n = 97, mean age = 9.00), and the fifth and sixth grade for the older group (n = 87, mean age = 11.02).
The children at each grade level were randomly assigned (stratified according to gender and race) to one of six conditions: (a) average weight boy, (b) average weight girl, (c) obese boy, (d) obese girl, (e) obese boy with information that his obesity is due to a medical problem, and (f) obese girl with information that her obesity is due to a medical problem.
Chi-square tests revealed no significant differences in sex or race distribution from condition to condition between grade levels. ANOVAs revealed no significant differences in age between conditions at each grade level.
Experimental Conditions
A fifth-grade boy and fourth-grade girl, each of average body weight, were
trained to play the roles of children who are about to begin attending the
participants' school. The performance (for both the boy and girl) was
videotaped to use as the stimulus for participants in each of three
conditions: average-weight, obese, obese with medical information
(obese/info).
Actors were instructed to present the same affect, mannerisms, and voice tone for each condition. For the two obese conditions, the actors recited the same script as that for the average-weight condition but wore a "fat suit" that added approximately forty pounds of weight, which placed their apparent body weight at the 95th percentile or higher. In creating this appearance, the researchers consulted with a university theater department. The same video was used for both obese conditions, but for the obese/info condition, a male adult voice-over, identified as the child's previous teacher, was added. It provided the following brief explanation of the child's medical condition:
Tommy/Cathy has a problem with his/her glands that causes him/her to gain weight very easily. He/she eats about the same amount of food as most children his/her age but more food is stored up, so he/she gains more weight than most children.
The video lasted approximately 100 seconds for each condition. The adult voice-over also gave instructions about filling out the surveys, and in the average-weight and obese/info conditions, "filler" instructions were included to balance the total presentation time. These filler instructions, which were later repeated for children in all conditions, stated that they would be provided pencils and be given help in completing the forms.
Dependent Measures
The Adjective Checklist. The Adjective Checklist
(Siperstein, 1980;
Siperstein & Bak, 1977)
has been used extensively in research on the measurement of elementary school
children's attitudes toward people with handicaps. It includes a list of 32
adjectives; half of the adjectives have a positive value (e.g., smart,
neat) and half have a negative value (e.g., dumb, sloppy). Each
rater endorses all the adjectives that best describe the target child. The
checklist is scored by subtracting the total negative adjectives endorsed from
the total positive and adding a constant of 20; scores may range from 4 to 36,
with scores above 20 indicating more positive and scores below 20 indicating
more negative attitudes. Factor analysis confirmed construct validity for
positive or negative value of the adjectives, and a coefficient alpha of.81
indicated acceptable internal consistency
(Siperstein, 1980). The
coefficient alpha for the current sample was.91.
Concurrent and construct validity, based on a sample of 233 elementary
school children, was examined through Pearson correlations with the SAQ
(Morgan et al., 1996). These
correlations, all of which are significant (p <.01), were.46 for
the Total Score,.45 for the General Social factor score,.41 for the Academic
factor score, and.36 for the Recreational factor score. While these
correlations suggest a strong relationship between stereotypic attitudes and
behavioral intentions, they also suggest that they represent different
constructs, as proposed by Gottlieb and Gottlieb
(1977).
Shared Activity Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ is an experimental
scale developed to assess willingness of an elementary school child to engage
in certain activities with a target child
(Morgan et al., 1996). The SAQ
includes 24 items (estimated to be at the second to third grade reading level)
covering three broad activity areas: General Social (e.g., "Eat lunch
next to Tommy/Kathy at school"), Academic (e.g., "Work arithmetic
problems in class with Tommy/Kathy"), and Active Recreational (e.g.,
"Go to a ball game with Tommy/Kathy"). Below each item are line
drawings of faces with corresponding responses: "yes" with a
smile, "maybe" with a neutral expression, and "no"
with a frown. The subject circles the answer that shows how he or she feels
about sharing each activity with the target child (SAQ). Each item is scored
as "yes" = 3, "maybe" = 2, and "no" = 1. A
total score can be obtained as well as a score for each of the three activity
areas, with higher scores reflecting more willingness to share in the
activity.
Because the initial form (SAQ-A) was designed for use with a target child presented in a wheelchair versus regular chair, no sports activities were included in the Active Recreational area. In this study, a modified form (SAQ-B) was used to include four sports-related items (e.g., "Pick Tommy/Kathy to be on my soccer team") as part of the eight items in this area. The inclusion of such activities provides a more comprehensive coverage of potential activities for elementary-age children, because sports are practiced both in and out of school at this age.
A confirmatory factor analysis of the SAQ-A yielded a comparative fit index
for the three-factor solution of.95 (Morgan
et al., 1996). The mean item loading for the three factors was as
follows: General Social,.69 (with a range of.56 to.76); Academic,.68 (with a
range of.54 to.83); Recreational,.73 (with a range of.69 to.81). Internal
consistency reliability, as reflected by coefficient alpha, was.95 for the SAQ
Total Score,.88 for the General Social factor score,.87 for the Academic
factor score, and.90 for the Recreational factor score. Comparable internal
consistency coefficients were obtained with the SAQ-B with the current sample
of children:.94 for the Total Score,.86 for the General Social factor
score,.83 for the Academic factor score, and.86 for the Recreational factor
score.
Procedure
After parental permission was obtained, children were informed that their
participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw without penalty. They
then viewed the videos in small groups and responded on the SAQ-B and
Adjective Checklist. The experimenters read each item aloud to the children
and circulated in the room to help as needed. After completion of the
measures, the following question was asked of children in the Obese and
Obese/Info conditions to determine whether they comprehended the additional
information in the Obese/Info condition: "How much do you feel it is
Tommy/Kathy's fault for being overweight?" The responses were scored on
a 3-point Likert scale (not at all = 1, a little = 2, a lot = 3).
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Results |
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Manipulation Check on Assignment of Fault
As a manipulation check, a 2 (obesity condition) x 2 (gender of rating child) x 2 (gender of target child) x 2 (age) ANOVA was used to compare the amount of fault participants assigned to the target child for being obese in the two obesity conditions. We found a highly significant effect for obesity condition, F(1, 109) = 22.01, p <.001; children in the obese/info condition (M = 1.5) assigned less fault than those in the obese condition (M = 2.1). Significant differences were noted for gender, F(1, 109) = 4.13, p =.045, and age, F(1, 109) = 6.37, p =.013; girls (M = 1.66) assigned less fault to the target children than did boys (M = 1.93), and younger children (M = 1.63) assigned less fault to the target children than did older children (M = 1.98).
Adjective Checklist
Table I presents the means
and standard deviations for scores on the Adjective Checklist and for total
scores on the SAQ-B.
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A 3 (obesity condition) x 2 (gender of rating child) x 2 (gender of target child) x 2 (age) factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant main effects for obesity condition, F(2, 160) = 6.83, p =.001, and age, F(1, 160) = 13.73, p <.001, and a significant two-way interaction between obesity and gender, F(2, 160) = 3.56, p =.031. The interaction between obesity and age was marginally significant, F(2, 160) = 2.91, p =.058.
A follow-up one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences between obesity conditions, F(2, 181) = 5.06, p =.007. The Student-Newman-Keuls test indicated that ratings for the average-weight condition (M = 27.73) were higher than those for the obese condition (M = 23.25); the ratings for the Obese/info condition (M = 25.31) did not differ significantly from those for either of these two conditions. This main effect, however, should be interpreted in light of the significant obesity by gender interaction. A one-way ANOVA comparing boys' ratings between obesity conditions revealed significant differences, F(2, 85) = 5.12, p =.008. The Student-Newman-Keuls follow-up test indicated that boys rated the target child in the average weight condition (M = 28.74) more favorably than they did the child in the obese condition (M = 21.37), but ratings for neither of these conditions differed from those for the obese/info Condition (M = 24.59). A one-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences for girls between conditions.
As reflected in the main effect for age, younger children (M = 27.25) gave more positive ratings than older children (M = 23.45). An exploratory follow-up analysis was performed at each age level to examine the marginally significant interaction between obesity and age. A one-way ANOVA for younger children revealed significant differences between obesity conditions, F(2, 94) = 6.09, p =.003. The Student-Newman-Keuls follow-up test indicated that these children rated the target child in the average-weight condition (M = 30.67) and in the obese/info condition (M = 27.79) more favorably than in the obese condition (M = 23.58). Older children showed no significant differences in ratings for obesity conditions.
SAQ-B
A 3 (obesity condition) x 2 (gender of rating child) x 2
(gender of target child) x 2 (age) ANOVA was used to analyze the SAQ-B
Total Score. Significant main effects were found for age, F(1, 160) =
8.12, p =.005, and gender, F(1, 160)= 4.12, p
=.044; younger children (M = 52.60) generally showed more positive
behavioral intentions than older children (M = 47.63) and girls
(M = 51.70) generally showed more positive behavioral intentions than
boys (M = 48.50). A significant interaction was found between the
gender of the rating child and gender of the target child, F(1, 160)
= 9.17, p =.003; across conditions and grades, boys showed more
positive behavioral intentions toward boys (M = 51.90) than toward
girls (M = 45.19), whereas girls showed more positive behavioral
intentions toward girls (M = 54.26) than toward boys (M =
49.58).
A 3 (obesity condition) x 2 (gender of rating child) x 2 (gender of target child) x 2 (age) MANOVA was used to analyze the three SAQ-B activity area scores. Overall, this analysis yielded the same results as that yielded by the total SAQ analysis regarding main effects for age and gender. A significant interaction was indicated between obesity condition and age, F(6, 316) = 3.33, p =.003. Univariate tests revealed a significant effect for Academic, F(2, 160) = 6.63, p =.002, and Recreational, F(2, 160) = 15.92, p =.011, activity areas. One-way ANOVAs examining ratings of younger children for the three obesity conditions revealed a significant effect for the Recreational area, F(2, 94) = 3.46, p =.035. A Student-Newman-Keuls follow-up test revealed that younger children showed less willingness to engage in active recreational activities with the child in the obese condition (M = 15.70) than with the average-weight child (M = 18.03), but their ratings for neither of these conditions significantly differed from those for the obese/info condition. One-way ANOVAs examining ratings of older children for the three obesity conditions revealed a significant effect for the Academic area, F(2, 86) = 3.18, p =.046. A Student-Newman-Keuls follow-up test revealed that older children showed less willingness to engage in academic activities with the child in the obese/info condition (M = 15.03) than with the child in the obese condition (M = 17.14).
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Discussion |
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A summary of the results, as they apply to the specific hypotheses, is as follows. The first hypothesis was generally confirmed with age and gender qualifications. On the Adjective Checklist boys rated the child in the obese condition less positively than they rated the child in the average-weight condition, but girls showed no differences in these rattings. On the SAQ-B younger children showed less willingness to engage in active recreational activities with the child in the obese condition than with the average-weight child. The second hypothesis was partially confirmed in Adjective Checklist and SAQ-B ratings, again with age qualifications. Younger children tended to show more positive ratings on the Adjective Checklist for the child in the obese/info condition than for the child in the obese condition, whereas older children showed no significant differences. On the SAQ-B, the information produced no significant effect for younger children, but had a negative effect on ratings of older children for academic activities. The third hypothesis regarding the relationship between obesity status and activity area was supported only by the finding that younger children showed less willingness to engage in active recreational activities with the child in the obese condition than with the average-weight child. However, older children showed less willingness to engage in academic activities with the child in the obese/info condition than with the child in the obese condition. The fourth hypothesis was not clearly confirmed by the results, already summarized, concerning effects of age. These results present a complex pattern that we discuss later. The fourth hypothesis regarding gender effects was at least partially confirmed. On the Adjective Checklist, boys rated the peer in the obese condition less favorably than in the average-weight condition, but girls showed no differences in ratings for any conditions. On the SAQ-B, there were no gender differences related to obesity condition. However, irrespective of obesity status, for most activities boys clearly preferred the boy target, whereas girls clearly preferred the girl target.
Our results indicate that provision of information explaining the obesity
had limited positive influence on the children's attitudes even though they
clearly assigned less fault to the child in the obese/info condition. Only
younger children, who attributed less fault than older children, tended to
show improvement in attitudes with provision of information. These results
provide limited support for Weiner's attribution hypothesis and are partially
consistent with DeJong's (1993)
results. The provision of medical information had even less positive impact on
behavioral intentions as assessed by the SAQ-B. For younger children, the
information had no effect on willingness to share activities with the obese
peer; for older children, it had a negative effect on willingness to share
academic activities with the obese peer. These results appear to be consistent
with the those of Sigelman
(1991), who found that
provision of low-responsibility information reduced the children's tendency to
hold an obese child responsible for being obese but did not alter their liking
for the obese child. They are also consistent with findings for other
conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy
(Potter & Roberts, 1984)
and Tourette's disorder (Friedrich, Morgan,
& Devine, 1996) that showed that explanatory information had
no impact or even a negative impact.
Analysis of differences concerning activity areas generally failed to confirm the prediction that obesity would have more negative effects on willingness to share social and recreational activities. However, children did demonstrate some differential activity ratings related to obesity. Younger children showed less positive behavioral intentions toward the child in the obese condition than toward average-weight child, but only for the recreational area. Older children showed differences only for the academic area, with lower ratings given to the child whose obesity was medically explained. One interpretation of this finding is that among older children, for whom conformity with the peer group appears increasingly important, such information merely serves to accentuate the physical difference. Why this affected only the academic area, instead of social and recreational areas, is difficult to explain. Perhaps this is the area in which the children feel that they, of necessity, have the most everyday contact with the obese child.
The prediction that older children would respond more positively, on both
measures, than younger children to the obese conditions and to the
presentation of information was not confirmed. In fact, the results tended to
support the reverse pattern. For older children, the information either had no
effect or a negative effect on ratings. This difference might be partially
explained by the finding that younger children attributed less fault to the
child in the obese/info condition than did older children. Even in the face of
exonerating information, older children still may have attributed some
responsibility to the peer for the problem, at least as reflected in their
ratings of willingness to interact with the peer in academic activities.
Moreover, older children may have been more affected than younger children by
the nature of the disorder and the stigma associated with it, irrespective of
the cause. This interpretation is consistent with Sigelman's
(1991) conclusions and with
recent findings, based on measures similar to those used in this study, that
children show highly positive behavioral intentions toward a peer in a
wheelchair, even in the absence of information regarding causation
(Morgan, Bieberich, Walker, &
Schwerdtfeger, 1998).
The only gender difference related to obesity status that emerged was
consistent with previous findings in showing that boys' attitudes were
negatively affected by obesity, whereas girls' ratings were not. Moreover, as
has been found in research with other conditions (e.g.,
Morgan et al., 1998), our
results indicate that gender is much more potent than obesity status in
predicting behavioral intentions—that is, boys prefer boys, and girls
prefer girls, regardless of obesity status.
The results of this study should be considered in light of some potential limitations, primarily concerning the issue of external validity. Although presenting the child in action via video appears to more closely approximate a realistic interaction than that created by stimuli used in previous studies, such media presentation would still have less external validity than in vivo interaction. Further, although we took measures to ensure their behavior was the same from condition to condition, the child actors may have acted differently when wearing a "fat suit," because they knew they would be perceived as obese. Moreover, the extent to which a child's actual interactions can be predicted from behavioral intentions expressed through paper-and-pencil measures needs to empirically verified. Another limitation is that the sample of participants was somewhat selective. Children in this study were from a predominantly middle class socioeconomic school in the suburb of a large city. To generalize these findings to children of all racial, geographical, and socioeconomic backgrounds, one would need a more inclusive sample. Finally, the generalizability of our findings is limited by the ages of children in our sample.
Our findings raise issues for future research. In view of the minimal impact of exonerating information on attitudes and behavioral intentions, the question of whether such information has a significant positive impact certainly needs further study. The influence of other methods of presenting information to improve attitudes and behavioral intentions toward children with obesity and other physical and behavioral disorders should be explored. Perhaps the most important issue concerns the relationships between certain types of measures and the predictions that we can make from them to children's actual interactions and activities within different contexts. Research is needed that relates measures of attitudes and behavioral intentions to these in vivo interactions, as assessed through sociometric ratings or more directly through observations of everyday behavior.
Our results also provoke some challenging questions concerning clinical
interventions. Because of the absence of positive effects of presenting
information explaining obesity, one might conclude that any intervention
involving presentation of such information might be counterproductive and even
promote more negative attitudes in children toward obese peers. On the basis
of our results, we feel that such a conclusion is unwarranted. Our results
certainly confirm those of previous studies showing that obese children are
viewed negatively by their peers. Further, our results indicate that a
brief presentation of information via video had little positive
impact—and even some negative impact in the case of older elementary
school children. These findings point to the need for refinement of methods
and content in presenting such information to children in educational and
clinical programs. For example, a video that presents not only information but
also includes a child who models positive interactions with a peer who is
obese might have more beneficial impact on attitudes and behavioral
intentions. Perhaps a better alternative to any brief educational intervention
might be adaptations of already developed, more lengthy, systematic, and
integrated programs that use children's stories, movies, dolls, discussion
groups, and other forms of media both to inform children about handicapping
conditions and to promote development of empathy and compassion for children
with such conditions (e.g., Heekin and
Mangel, 1983).
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Acknowledgments |
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We thank the children and staff of The University of Memphis Campus School for their participation in this project. This study was supported by a Center of Excellence grant from the state of Tennessee to the Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis.
Received October 26, 1998; revision received February 23, 1999; accepted May 7, 1999
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionReferences |
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