A comparison of eating profiles of the obese and non-obese

Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-73)Behavioral programs for weight control generally use techniques that help the obese to model the eating habits of the non-obese. Since studies of obesity have not adequately identified styles in eating that vary from the obese to the non-obese, and because effective features of programs have not been isolated, it is unclear which components have contributed to the success of this kind of approach to treatment. In the present study, a survey instrument comprised of 119 items was administered to 200 subjects in order to compare the eating profiles of obese and non-obese persons. The groups were contrasted in 12 areas which have been addressed in earlier studies by techniques for behavioral intervention. Several statistical analyses were performed on the data in the hope that patterns of eating found to differ across the tests would be appropriate targets of therapy, as well as being promising focuses of direct experimentation. Four types of techniques were identified as having a high probability of being essential features of treatment packages. These included components aimed at narrowing differences between the behavior of the obese and non-obese when under emotional strain or visual stimulation, in addition to techniques which develop interests not associated with food and techniques which encourage the arrangement of social cues to adaptive eating. The survey strongly indicated that the effectiveness of program features may be contingent upon the gender of subjects receiving treatment; accordingly, it has been recommended that direct experimentation be used to assess interaction effects between sex and the benefits derived from behavioral techniques for weight control