Perceptual and Mot07 Skills, 1979,49, 690. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1979

OBESITY AND LEVEL OF ACTIVITY1 R A Y M O N D S. DEAN

A. ALEXANDER GARABEDIAN

U n i v e r ~ i t yo f Wisconsin-Madison

Arizona State University

While the medical and aesthetic ills are easily documented, to many individuals obesity remains unconquered. Only recently has this problem been approached behaviorally (Schachter, 1968). Along these lines it would not be illogical to assume that the activity level of the obese individual might be lower so activiry may be confounded with weight gain and retention. A pervasive sedentary model of responding could also be viewed as a learned behavior which would compound caloric excesses. Although the notion that obese individuals have lower levels of activity has intuitive and anecdotal appeal, little systematic research has been conducted. I n one early study, Chirico and Stunkard ( 1 9 6 0 ) fouod that obese adults walked some 4 0 % less than nonobese individuals. As a preliminary step to the development of a measure of general activity, we sought some early verification of our hypothesis. O n e simple indicator of general activity was whether individuals would use an elevator or climb stairs. It was hypothesized that given the choice, the obese individual would choose the path of least caloric expenditure. The first consideration was that the building chosen should not be so high as to necessitate the use of an elevator. W e settled o n a four-story building at Arizona State University which has two fast elevators and a large, well-defined stairway adjacent to the elevators. Two independent research attendants, who stood out of view of the stairway, elevators, and each other, rated subjects in their order of appearance as being either normal, overweight, or obese. Judgments were communicated to an experimenter by hand signals, who also recorded the subject's method of ascent. Individuals who were seen to have an excessive accumulation of body fat which judges viewed as 25 Ib. above normal weight were rated as obese; while persons having excessive body fat, but not 25 Ib., were rated as overweight. During two 10-hr. days, some 328 subjects were rated in this manner. From this pool of subjects, three groups of 30 subjects (15 male and 15 female) were randomly chosen from individuals rated as obese, overweight, and normal for analysis. Only subjects about whom judges agreed o n their weight classification and were free from obvious physical handicaps were included. . A proportion of .93 ( 2 8 subjects) of riders for the obese group was significantly greater than the .63 ( 1 9 subjects) for the group rated to be somewhat overweight (z = 3.00, p .01). The proportion of elevator riders among normals ( 1 6 subjects) and . 0 5 ) . The present results supthe overweight group did not differ significantly ( p ported the hypothesis that the obese individuals may follow a path of least effort in their daily activities.




REFERENCES CHIRTCO, A. M., & STUNKARD,A. J. Physical activity and human obesity. N e w England Iourrzal o f Medicine, 1960, 263, 935-940. SCHACHTER, S. Obesity and eating. Science, 1968, 161, 751-756.

Accepted October J, 1979. 'Requests for reprints and an extended report of this study should be sent to Raymond S. Dean. 1025 West Johnson Street, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

Obesity and level of activity.

Perceptual and Mot07 Skills, 1979,49, 690. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1979 OBESITY AND LEVEL OF ACTIVITY1 R A Y M O N D S. DEAN A. ALEXANDER GARA...
46KB Sizes 0 Downloads 0 Views