ERIC Number: EJ870259
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Sep
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0270-1367
EISSN: N/A
Attitudes toward Overweight Individuals among Fitness Center Employees: An Examination of Contextual Effects
Dimmock, James A.; Hallett, Bree E.; Grove, J. Robert
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, v80 n3 p641-647 Sep 2009
Our study assessed implicit and explicit evaluations of overweight individuals among a sample of fitness center employees (N = 70). Participants completed a general demographics questionnaire and an explicit, self-report Antifat Attitudes Test (AFAT). Participants also completed two Implicit Association Tests (IATs) to measure implicit attitudes toward overweight individuals. In one IAT, participants responded to pictures of overweight and thin individuals in a neutral context. A second IAT required participants to respond to pictures of the same individuals exercising on a treadmill. Consistent with hypotheses, average scores fell below the midpoint on the AFAT subscales, suggesting an absence of a significant explicit bias. The sample exhibited moderately strong implicit weight biases, however, in both the neutral (IAT D = 0.39) and exercise contexts (IAT D = 0.39). The findings do not support the premise that implicit biases against overweight individuals vary according to the context in which the judgments are made. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Obesity, Employees, Context Effect, Evaluation, Questionnaires, Attitudes, Allied Health Occupations, Physical Education Teachers, Psychometrics, Researchers, Foreign Countries, Body Weight, Physical Education, Experiments
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A