The Association Between Gender and Obesity, Essay Example

Part I: Introduction

Obesity is one of the many lifestyle diseases that pose a health risk to people living in the 21^st century. Most people have become obese because of the high-calorie foods they consume daily. According to Ameye & Swinnen (2019), obesity has become a health issue that should be addressed rapidly. People have ceased eating nutritious meals and have become reliant on junk foods prepared and preserved with chemicals. Obesity can result from many factors, including diet and other health problems. Puberty is an outstanding example of a health issue that may lead to obesity in a person; some individuals acquire a lot of weight throughout puberty (Newby et al., 2005).

A study steered by Viner et al. (2012) exposed that young people in adolescence sometimes get affected by social factors that may lead to certain behaviors associated with obesity or overweight. Factors such as depression and anxiety sometimes make the individual find peace in eating, thus gaining weight. Society has put specific standards that define a person with a good body. These standards have put so many people under pressure because they want to fit in. The association between gender and obesity can be felt from all angles, and most studies have shown that most women are obese. The reason is that women are subject to many kinds of social and economic factors that might lead to their body gain. Obesity is an issue of significant concern in today’s world. Thus, looking at its relationship with gender will help determine the people who are most likely to suffer from the disease and how they can get help in the future. This study will look at the various factors such as gender and how they are associated with obesity.

 Objectives

The following are the objectives that will guide this study to its completion.

1. To find out if there is a link between gender with obesity.
2. To see if there is a connection between smoking and obesity.
3. To determine whether a person’s calorie intake can affect their body weight.
4. To determine the most common types of obesity in males and females.

Hypothesis

The following hypothesis was formulated to help get the final answer to the research topic.

1. There is a strong relationship between gender and obesity
2. There is a relationship between frequent consumption of high caloric food and obesity
3. The risk of being obese increases with heavy smoking and alcohol consumption

After looking into the various issues associated with obesity, it is essential to note that several factors contribute to obesity. Still, this study will focus more on how gender plays a role in the spread of obesity.

Part II: Literature Review

This study chapter will focus on the literature review of the articles published earlier by other authors in line with the study topic. In addition, this section will look at some theories that have been used to support the research topic and provide a deeper understanding of the topic.

Discrimination Theory and Obesity

The gender of humans has always influenced how things are conducted in society; for example, men are assigned specific responsibilities. Gender inequality, according to Esteve-Volart (2004), has had a substantial influence on how certain people have fared in the community. Gender inequality is still a significant source of concern in emerging nations. For example, overweight women are more likely to be discriminated against in low and middle-income countries than women of average weight. This is because people who are overweight or obese are less active, and they either sit or sleep all day, leaving them unable to work, which is a severe problem for overweight women in today’s environment.

Research that Puhl & Brownell (2001) conducted showed that people who are obese have faced a countable number of discriminations in society. This kind of discrimination is seen at work and in any social gathering places such as malls, and churches, among other areas. People in the community constantly make jokes about fat people, and sometimes these jokes are too personal to the affected people. The discrimination theory shows that overweight people have been discriminated against many times than is known, which has made them lose their jobs, self-confidence, and health assistance. According to Forhan & Salas (2013), patients who are obese have faced discrimination when it comes to healthcare provision. Most medical practitioners tend to stigmatize fat people and prefer giving help to patients with average body weight over the overweight ones. Treating a person who weighs over 600lb can be challenging for some people because they might think or feel that it will be hard to examine such people. Other people believe that for someone to be obese, they might have allowed themselves to reach that kind of a bodyweight. Most overweight women feel guilty seeking medical help because they feel ashamed that they will be judged for who they are.

As much as some people fight discrimination against obese people, it is still hard to entirely fight the issue. Several studies have shown that occupations such as sales agents are set aside for people who have small bodies; thus, if a person is qualified and obese, their chances of not getting the job are still high (Flint et al., 2016). Having excess weight has faced many challenges in society, and the standards are still set higher by women from high-income countries who are constantly working out to maintain their bodies at a particular weight. The increase in number of people who are obese worldwide has increased, which has, in turn, led to a rise in discrimination and stigmatization cases.

This theory has helped me understand that obesity is still not accepted by many people worldwide. That is why many people are still discriminated against because of their body weight. Research studies that have been conducted on obesity stigmatization revolve around so many factors and not employment only. Discrimination against obesity spans different aspects of life, for instance, medicine, sociology, business management, ethics, and economics (Carr & Friedman, 2005).

Part III: Research Methodology

This chapter focuses on the methods used to collect the data used in the analysis. It will provide a detailed approach to the technique used in the data collection process, the design used in the research, the sample size used, the methods used to collect data, and the ethical consideration.

Research design and Sampling

An exploratory research strategy will be employed in this study to give a comprehensive explanation based on the data. Because the data utilized was secondary data previously used in comparable studies, there was no requirement for a survey study.

In this study, secondary data was used; the data was collected from a website that stores all kinds of data for researchers from various fields. The data used was about people’s opinions about obesity; this is because the study wanted to look at how gender is related to obesity so that we can know the gender that is more likely to be affected by obesity. The total sample size used in the study was 2111 participants. From the sample, the demographic features of the respondents were also collected, and they will be analyzed through the descriptive statistics method. In addition, this study looked at many other factors that might contribute to obesity in a person; that is why aspects such as smoking and alcohol consumption are tested. More about the dataset is discussed in the results section of this study.

Analysis Process

The data used in this study will be analyzed using the SPSS analysis tool. SPSS is a tool used by people who carry out social sciences studies. The device is very effective because it provides the researcher with a wide range of analysis methods that can help in getting the most relevant results from the data. Several tests will be conducted during the analysis to ensure that the most accurate results are obtained; for instance, we will use regression analysis to check for the association between variables, descriptive statistics to summarize some demographic variables, and several other tests. In addition, the visualization of the results will be facilitated through tables and graphs.

Definition of Variables

Dependent variable – This is the variable determined by another variable in a given data set.

Independent variable – This is the variable in a dataset that does not require other variables to give results; in other words, they do not depend on others.

Output – this is the result obtained.

Variables are the characteristics in a dataset that assume the roles or names of different values such as height and weight.

Part IV: Analysis & statistical results

This section will display the outcome of the test conducted on the data on the SPSS analysis tool. From the data, several tests were shown, and below is their result from the analysis.

The results displayed above showed the descriptive summary of five variables we tested in the analysis. The results show 2111 participants in the data; the oldest participant was 61 years old, while the youngest was 14 years old. Also, from the table, it is evident that most people consume a lot of food that is high in calories and fewer vegetables. Meaning that people do not like vegetables much but prefer high caloric meals such are fries and chicken from fast food areas such as KFC.

Gender and obesity type

From the results that have been shown above, it is clear that there is a relationship that exists between gender and obesity. From the ANOVA table, the significant value is greater than 0.05. As a result, we will not be able to reject the null hypothesis and, therefore, will infer that there is a link between obesity and gender. According to the clustering chart, females are more obese than their male colleagues. The graph also illustrates that women are more likely to develop type iii obesity, while men are more likely to develop type ii obesity. On the other hand, males are much more prone to be underweight, although both sides have an equal probability of being of average weight.

Obesity and physical activity

Obesity is when a person has more weight than the average amount; in most cases, people who are obese become immobile because their body weight does not give them the luxury of moving around freely. This test was conducted to see how lack of exercise can lead to one becoming obese. The results showed that men and women who do not exercise have either type i or ii of obesity, most of them do not work out at all, or if they do, it is just very small that cannot create an impact. Both people who are overweight and obese do not do exercise, which is why they cannot burn the calories needed to lose the excess weight.

Relationship between obesity vs. physical activity vs. type of transportation used

The analysis shown above was used to determine if there is any relationship between obesity, physical exercise, and means of transportation. People like comfort, and since they cannot do exercise, they will look for the most accessible means of transport. The p-value in the ANOVA table is less than 0.05, indicating that the three factors do have a significant association.

This table further shows that even underweight people do not like to walk, cycle or use motorbikes but instead prefer using public means such as cars for transportation. The bar is even higher for people who have type three obesity, they are overweight and walking, or cycling is not part of their routine. This is dangerous because it means that people who are obese will find it hard to lose weight when their life is at risk. Lack of exercise among people and transportation means such as cars contribute to the rise in obese people worldwide.

• Family members suffering from obesity

The pie chart shown above indicates that at least one or two members in every household are obese or overweight. This supports the notion that the number of people who are obese has drastically increased over the years up to date.

• Obesity and Smoking

The graph helps explain that we cannot say that there is any relationship between obesity and smoking; this is because most obese people do not like smoking. That explains why most respondents said that they do not smoke.

• Obesity and Alcohol consumption

This graph shows that most fat individuals are not alcoholics, although they may use alcohol on one or two occasions. As a result, alcohol intake cannot be blamed for obesity in obese persons. Furthermore, most respondents did not use alcohol, concluding that obesity is best represented by the quantity and type of food consumed.

Limitations to the analysis and Direction for future work

During the research in this study, some challenges were faced, and they are as shown below.

1. Inadequate time- there was the minimal allocation for the analysis. This hindered the process of exploring other statistical methods that could be used.
2. Software malfunction – breakdown of the analysis software was also an issue of significant concern because the test had to be started again.
3. The lack of backup materials made it impossible to recover files after the software malfunctioned.

The Direction of further research

We suggest the following factors to contemplate for future research to prevent the analytical obstacles we encountered in the analysis process.

1. The research team should ensure a backup power source to ensure enough power supply to the machines used in the analysis.
2. A backup should be created so that the stored data can be retrieved easily in case of a system malfunction.
3. Research like this should have more time allocated to it to allow the researcher to explore other methods that can be used to produce more accurate results.

Conclusion

From the study conducted above, we have noted that obesity is a significant health concern today. Many men and women are becoming obese each day, affecting their social and private lives. The goal of this study was to see if there was a link between gender and obesity. From the displayed results, the gender of the person determines their obesity chances. The results showed that more females are susceptible to obesity and the reason are many, for example, poverty and lack of a proper guide to nutrition. In addition, most women who are obese tend to feel guilty about their weight, which is why they do not seek medical help or try to reduce their weight. Obesity is more prevalent in low- and middle-income nations because the poor eat more processed meals and do not engage in the physical activities that come with them. Other studies have shown that, in addition to accumulating weight as they get older, some individuals are born overweight. Obesity may be induced by genetic variation in a family member, coming from either the father’s or mother’s side (Chen et al.,2013). Finally, obesity affects both males and females because the increase in numbers has led to the rise in stigmatization and discrimination from other people.

References

Ameye, H., & Swinnen, J. (2019). Obesity, income, and gender: the changing global relationship. Global Food Security, 23, 267-281. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912418301287

Carr, D., & Friedman, M. A. (2005). Is obesity stigmatizing? Bodyweight, perceived discrimination, and psychological well-being in the United States. Journal of health and social behavior, 46(3), 244-259. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002214650504600303

Chen, Y. C., Dong, G. H., Lin, K. C., & Lee, Y. L. (2013). Gender difference of childhood overweight and obesity in predicting the risk of incident asthma: a systematic review and meta?analysis. Obesity Reviews, 14(3), 222-231. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2012.01055.x?casa_token=IgCzcWGT4vgAAAAA%3AzGGSopzRctR7stT1B0HU3Bd8MW0jnCdXOHeI6QKmkPr362Ru8nQL7gqKqyRS478z_BxRvLjnfhojztmY

Esteve-Volart, B. (2004). Gender discrimination and growth: Theory and evidence from India. LSE STICERD Research Paper No. DEDPS42. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1127011

Flint, S. W., ?adek, M., Codreanu, S. C., Ivi?, V., Zomer, C., & Gomoiu, A. (2016). Obesity discrimination in the recruitment process: “You’re not hired!”. Frontiers in psychology, 647. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00647/full

Forhan, M., & Salas, X. R. (2013). Inequities in healthcare: a review of bias and discrimination in obesity treatment. Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 37(3), 205-209. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1499267113005418

Newby, P. K., Dickman, P. W., Adami, H. O., & Wolk, A. L. I. C. J. A. (2005). Early anthropometric measures and reproductive factors as predictors of body mass index and obesity among older women. International journal of obesity, 29(9), 1084-1092. https://www.nature.com/articles/0802996

Puhl, R., & Brownell, K. D. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obesity Research, 9(12), 788-805. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2001.108?casa_token=WpHTjlkO8MIAAAAA%3A7mLeAfrNXZzy8r_lxsNxpo4XENmP1Hd8HuiKLcExl_zSQqub-itjPJANRrxowM9VRkCDDYFMAVTUA3Vz

Viner, R. M., Ozer, E. M., Denny, S., Marmot, M., Resnick, M., Fatusi, A., & Currie, C. (2012). Adolescence and the social determinants of health. The Lancet, 379(9826), 1641-1652. https://www.spaj.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Adolescence_and_the_social_determinants_of_health.pdf