PINGITORE, REGINA, BONNIE SPRING, DAVID GARFIELD. Gender differences in body satisfaction. Obes Res. 1997;5:402-409. Although men and women show similar rates of obesity, women more frequently engage in weight loss efforts, with potentially adverse health consequences. We surveyed 320 college-aged men and women to examine gender differences in the determinants of body dissatisfaction and the degree of importance assigned to bodyweight and shape. Results indicated that, for both genders, satisfaction with bodyweight and shape decreased as body mass index (BMI) increased. Women, however, showed significantly greater body and weight dissatisfaction than men at most weight categories. Only the underweight (BMk20) women and men were similarly satisfied with their bodyweight and shape. As BMI increased, however, women became disproportionately more dissatisfied: both normal-weight and overweight women expressed greater dissatisfaction than comparable men. College-aged women also attributed progressively more importance to both weight and shape as BMI increased, unlike college-aged men, who considered body weight equally important to (or slightly less important than) self-esteem as BMI increased. We discuss implications for the self-esteem of obese women and men.

This study assessed whether moderately obese individuals, especially women, would be discriminated against in a mock employment interview. Potential confounding factors were controlled by having 320 Ss rate videotapes of a job interview that used the same professional actors appearing as normal weight or made up to appear overweight by the use of theatrical prostheses. Results suggested that bias against hiring overweight job applicants does exist, especially for female applicants. Bias was most pronounced when applicants were rated by Ss who were satisfied with their bodies and for whom perceptions of their bodies were central to self-concept. The decision not to hire an obese applicant was, however, only partially mediated by personality attributions. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed.

The authors compared simultaneous versus sequential approaches to multiple health behavior change in diet, exercise, and cigarette smoking. Female regular smokers (N = 315) randomized to 3 conditions received 16 weeks of behavioral smoking treatment, quit smoking at Week 5, and were followed for 9 months after quit date. Weight management was omitted for control and was added to the 1st 8 weeks for early diet (ED) and the final 8 weeks for late diet (LD). ED lacked lasting effect on weight gain, whereas LD initially lacked but gradually acquired a weight-suppression effect that stabilized (p = .004). Behavioral weight control did not undermine smoking cessation and, when initiated after the smoking quit date, slowed the rate of weight gain, supporting a sequential approach.

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Adult smokers (N = 253) without clinically significant depression were randomized on a double-blind basis to receive fluoxetine (30 or 60 mg daily) or a placebo for 10 weeks in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). It was predicted that fluoxetine would selectively benefit smokers with higher baseline depression, nicotine dependence, and weight concern and lower self-efficacy about quitting smoking. Among those who completed the prescribed treatment regimen, baseline depression scores moderated the treatment response. Logistic regression analyses showed that 1 and 3 months after the quit date, fluoxetine increased the likelihood of abstinence, as compared with placebo, among smokers with minor depression but not among those with little or no depression. Results suggests that, as an adjunct to CBT, fluoxetine enhances cessation by selectively benefiting medication-compliant smokers who display even subclinical levels of depression.

We tested whether 14 wk of dexfenfluramine (30 mg) or fluoxetine (40 mg) treatment would prevent weight gain after subjects quit smoking. Normal-weight women (n = 144) were randomly assigned to drug or placebo on a double-blind basis for 2 wk before quitting smoking and 12 wk thereafter. The fluoxetine group had more dropouts (28/49, 57.1%) than the dexfenfluramine group (17/47, 36.2%), with an intermediate number of dropouts from the placebo group (21/48, 43.8%). All groups gained weight during treatment, but their amount and pattern of weight gain differed. In the first month after quitting smoking, the placebo group gained more weight than either the dexfenfluramine or fluoxetine group (P < 0.05). By 2 mo postcessation, dexfenfluramine still suppressed weight gain in comparison with placebo (P < 0.05); weight gain with fluoxetine was not differentiable from either dexfenfluramine or placebo. By 3 mo postcessation, the dexfenfluramine group had gained 1.0 +/- 0.7 kg, significantly less than either the placebo (3.5 +/- 0.7 kg) or fluoxetine (2.7 +/- 0.5 kg) groups. Three months after drug discontinuation, formerly medicated, but not placebo patients, showed additional weight gain, eliminating differences between groups. Results indicate that weight gain, an adverse accompaniment of smoking cessation, can be minimized to some degree by serotoninergic drugs, although only for the duration of drug treatment.

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