Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: American Medical Association Childhood Obesity - 1,392 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

... wealth of role models society has to choose from adhering to this norm. The Interactions Perspective emphasizes things such as peer pressure, the influence of role models, and the role of peer groups on an individual (Adler and Adler 49). Because people often associate with others who are similar to themselves, the obese person's peer group becomes many other obese people.

Often, these people reinforce each other's eating and exercise habits, as well as beliefs concerning obesity. It becomes an acceptable practice to eat often and poorly as well as not exercise. These peer groups perform the function of support and acceptance, making the obese person feel better about him / herself . The group even allows its members to feel a sense of normalcy about themselves. Outside of this peer group, however, these people are seen as deviant. According to McLorg and Taub, as a part of developing the deviant identity, people experience both primary and secondary deviance (Adler and Adler 247 - 250).

Between these stages is societal reaction. In primary deviance, the person violates norms that do not affect self-concept or social role performance. In this stage, the person overeats, but has not yet begun showing signs of being overweight or obese. They do not feel differently about themselves. Between stages, the person begins to be visibly deviant, and is labeled obese by society.

In secondary deviance, the person deviates in response to society's having labeled them. Once this has occurred, the obese person internalizes that identity and begins to interact with others in such a fashion. It affects his or her self-concept and social roles. One begins to associate with others like him / herself . At this point, the deviant has achieved a new status that defines him / her .

Additionally, the people surrounding the deviant often expect the person to fulfill the deviant role. Also, it has been noted in a study done by Hammarlund et al, that poor family functioning and parental control are risk factors contributing to childhood obesity. Adult obesity is often rooted in childhood obesity making it harder to lose weight later in life (Wardlaw 324). If the family promotes obesity, and the child is socialized into the behaviors contributing to it, it will be even harder to break these habits and the belief that obesity is normal. Adler and Adler mention that "habit in the individual is an expression of custom in society (73). "" Americans have a strong eating habit. However, it should be noted that behavior is on a continuum.

Eating in itself is not a "bad" behavior, per se. Eating too much or too little is. In the case of obesity, overeating falls on the far end of the continuum. Eating is a way to socialize, waste time, or comfort oneself to name only a few of its functions. Almost anything in American society becomes an excuse to eat. Americans celebrate with cake and ice cream, meet for lunch to get together with old friends, have office meetings over dinner, go out for a snack when bored, and buy junk food at movies among many other instances.

In this way, eating is a learned behavior in US society. Further, a questionnaire was developed to test the quality of life of the obese versus other American subcultures (Barciulli et al 1999). The survey is entitled the Obesity Related Well-Being (ORWELL 97) questionnaire. It concerns intensity and subjective relevance of physical and psychosocial distress. It has been established that the obese often have an impaired quality of life. This survey also noted that obese females have a lower quality of life than their male counterparts.

Finally, I distributed my own small, anonymous survey to twelve available students willing to participate to get a general idea of feelings on obesity. What I found was that overall, people think that on average fifty percent of the American population is obese. In fact, approximately fifty five percent of my sample was obese. These people also placed the causes of obesity in this order, from greatest influence to least: heredity, the person, socioeconomic factors, poor education, and ethnicity. Ninety two percent believe that obesity causes poor health. All thought that there were options open for the obese to lose weight, but the comment was made that ."..

these options may not work. I believe skinny people think that it is easy to lose weight and that overweight people are just lazy. " In fact, only twenty five percent thought that obesity was "normal. " One hundred percent believe that obesity is not accepted in society. People think that the obese are treated poorly in American society, but those sampled say that they generally react in a neutral manner to obese persons. Considering that fifty five percent of the sample was obese or overweight, it was surprising to note that the way this group and the "normal" weight category perceived people reacting to them was the same.

On a scale of one to ten, with ten being poor reactions, both groups averaged a 4. 8. Other factors may, in fact, contribute to people's reactions to an individual, however, most of this same group thought that the obese were treated poorly, while it appears as though they receive approximately the same reactions as the normal weight persons in this study. (Attached is a copy of this survey. ) Obesity has become and epidemic in American society. It is marked by body weight being more than thirty percent fat. Obese individuals constitute nearly thirty percent of the population.

They are more susceptible to disease and death than those of normal weight. Obesity can be considered deviant due to its societal reaction. Obesity is visibly deviant, therefore, making it easier for the labeling process to occur. Once the obese person has been labeled, he or she is deviant. Both the structural, cultural and interactions perspectives can be used to explain the deviance of obesity. The structural perspective allows for a positive function of deviance.

Because deviants exist, society is reminded of its boundaries and unifies to uphold them. In the cultural perspective the person finds him / herself submerged in ideals that differ from the overall norms. He or she must decide which cultural role is more important to fulfill. The interactions perspective emphasizes peers, peer groups, and role models as influences upon our behavior. In this way, the individual identifies with other's ideals as well as ideals that are overly present in society with which to define him / herself . Obesity has become statistically an average behavior in the United States.

Nevertheless, it is still "abnormal. " The norm stands that thinness is attractive and worthy (Adler and Adler, 245). So long as this norm is upheld, obesity will be deviant and people will be labeled for their deviance and inability to conform. Works Cited Adler, Patricia; Adler, Peter. Constructions of Deviance Social Power, Context, and Interaction. 3 rd ed. United States: Wadsworth, 2000.

Allison, David B. ; Fontaine, Kevin R. ; Manson, JoAnn E. ; Steven, June. "Annual Deaths Attributable to Obesity in the United States. " Journal of the American Medical Association October 27, 1999. Allison, David B. "The Direct Health Care Costs of Obesity in the United States. " Journal of the American Medical Association 282 October 13, 1999: 1316. Arslanian, Sylvia A. ; Danadien, Kapriel; Law, Very. "Risk of Obesity in African- American Children: Nature or Nurture?" 48 Diabetes May 1999: 310. Barciulli, Elsabetta; Carries, Pierre Luigi; Di Bernardo, Milena; M anucci, Edoardo; Rica, Value; Rotella, Carlo Maria; Travaglini, Rossana. "Quality of Life and Overweight: The obesity related well being (ORWELL 97) questionnaire. " Addictive Behaviors May-June 1999: 345.

Hammarlund, Virginia A. ; Kendrick, Olivia W. ; Stinett, Nick; Stitt, Kathleen R. ; Wilkins, Stephanie C. "Family functioning is related to overweight in children. " 98 Journal of the American Dietetic Association May 1998 572 - 574. Hirsch, Jules; Level, Rudolph L. ; Rosenbaum, Michael. "Obesity. " The New England Journal of Medicine August 7, 1997. 396 - 407. Hwang, Mi Young. "Are you obese?" The Journal of the American Medical Association October 27, 1999 1596. Wardlaw, Gordon M. Contemporary Nutrition. 4 th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2000.

Williamson, David F. "The prevention of obesity. " The New England Journal of Medicine October 7, 1999 140 - 141.


Free research essays on topics related to: normal weight, peer groups, lose weight, childhood obesity, american medical association

Research essay sample on American Medical Association Childhood Obesity

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com