4/6/98
STUDY SAYS OBESE PEOPLE PERCEIVED AS LESS CAPABLE BY EMPLOYERS: A new Ohio University study indicates it is tougher to get a job if you are one of the more than 70 million obese Americans. Although researchers have speculated that employers are reluctant to hire obese persons for jobs in which they have high public visibility, it's the activity of the job and the obese person's perceived inability to perform it that deters employment, according to Paula Popovich, an associate professor of psychology at Ohio University and lead author of the study. "Employers are assuming obese people simply can't do the job," says Popovich. "It is not attractiveness as many have speculated. It's a perception they can't do the job without actually testing their abilities." The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act aimed a preventing discrimination in the workplace included obesity as a disorder which may meet the act's criteria.
89 PERCENT OF THOSE IN WEDLOCK WOULD TIE THE KNOT AGAIN: A nationwide survey by researchers at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism found that 89 percent of those who were married would wed the same spouse again. Despite an overall decline in marriage -- only 60 percent of adult Americans were married in 1996, down from 66 percent in 1980 -- only eight percent of those surveyed who were still married said they wouldn't wed the same spouse again. The survey of more than a thousand Americans, overseen by Distinguished Professor of Journalism Guido Stempel, found that only 38 percent believed "people are as romantic as ever." The survey has a margin of error of about 4 percent, meaning a similar poll of every U.S. household would produce results within 4 percent of those in the survey.
WOMEN USE COPING STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH PAIN MORE OFTEN THAN MEN: A new study by researchers at Ohio University suggests women are more likely than men to use coping strategies such as relaxation techniques to deal with arthritic pain and also are better at decreasing the emotional impact of severe pain. For the study, 48 men and 99 women diagnosed with either osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis were asked to keep a daily log of their activities. For 30 consecutive days, participants recorded their amount of pain and their response to it. The researchers found that women employed a variety of coping mechanisms, including relaxation, distraction and seeking emotional support from others when they had pain, says Francis Keefe, professor of health psychology at Ohio University and principal investigator on the project. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, will be presented April 8 at a conference entitled "Gender and Pain: A focus on how pain impacts women differently than men."