Table 1.
Means (and s.d.) or proportions, Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) 1995 (N = 3,511)
| Total sample |
Underweighta (<18.5) |
Normalb (18.5–24.9) |
Overweightc (25–29.9) |
Obese Id (30–34.9) |
Obese II/ IIIe (>35) |
Did not report weight |
F- statistic (df = 5) |
Significant subgroup differences |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variables | |||||||||
| Harassed/teased (range: 1–4) | 1.28 (0.56) |
1.30 (0.66) |
1.26 (0.55) |
1.27 (0.53) |
1.32 (0.58) |
1.39 (0.59) |
1.28 (0.68) |
3.18** | be, ce |
| Treated without respect (range: 1–4) | 1.54 (0.67) |
1.52 (0.60) |
1.51 (0.67) |
1.51 (0.65) |
1.55 (0.67) |
1.74 (0.71) |
1.61 (0.84) |
6.41*** | be, ce, de |
| Treated as if character is flawed (range: 1–4) | 1.36 (0.63) |
1.24 (0.53) |
1.30 (0.60) |
1.37 (0.63) |
1.40 (0.64) |
1.50 (0.70) |
1.33 (0.70) |
5.77*** | ae, bc, bd, be, ce, ef |
| Demographic characteristics | |||||||||
| Sex (1 = female) | 0.49 | 0.79 | 0.60 | 0.36 | 0.44 | 0.63 | 0.60 | 41.76*** | ab, ac, ad, bc, bd, ce, cf, de, df |
| Race (1 = black) | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.08 | 5.15*** | ae, bd, be, ce |
| Age (in years) | 46.8 (13.2) |
41.0 (13.1) |
44.73 (13.21) |
47.85 (13.4) |
49.71 (11.97) |
47.34 (11.87) |
45.22 (13.56) |
15.94*** | ac, ad, ae, bc, bf, be, df |
| Currently married | 0.64 | 0.44 | 0.60 | 0.68 | 0.68 | 0.63 | 0.58 | 6.78*** | ab, ac, ad, ae, bc, bd |
| Formerly married | 0.23 | 0.37 | 0.24 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 1.96 | ac |
| Never married | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.16 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.14 | 0.18 | 5.49*** | bc, bd |
| Has children (1 = yes) | 0.81 | 0.74 | 0.76 | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.81 | 0.80 | 7.04*** | bc, bd |
| Socioeconomic status | |||||||||
| <12 years education | 0.09 | 0.082 | 0.068 | 0.082 | 0.13 | 0.09 | 0.071 | 4.04* | bd, cd |
| 13–15 years education | 0.30 | 0.36 | 0.31 | 0.28 | 0.29 | 0.33 | 0.33 | 1.33 | |
| >16 years education | 0.33 | 0.32 | 0.38 | 0.34 | 0.25 | 0.23 | 0.33 | 8.40*** | bd, be, cd, ce |
| Not currently employed | 0.27 | 0.34 | 0.27 | 0.27 | 0.26 | 0.30 | 0.29 | 0.639 | |
| Upper white-collar worker | 0.31 | 0.32 | 0.34 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.23 | 0.30 | 3.08** | be |
| Physical and mental health | |||||||||
| Negative affect (standardized) | 0 (1.00) |
0.13 (0.98) |
0.02 (0.99) |
−0.08 (0.92) |
−0.03 (1.0) |
0.22 (1.19) |
0.24 (1.15) |
6.04** | be, ce, cf, de, df |
| Limitations with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) | 1.59 (0.79) |
1.66 (0.97) |
1.38 (0.63) |
1.55 (0.76) |
1.80 (0.86) |
2.13 (0.89) |
1.67 (0.87) |
54.5*** | ab, ae, bc, bd, be, bf, cd, ce, de, ef |
| Self-rated health (1 = fair/poor) | 0.15 | 0.20 | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.21 | 0.28 | 0.16 | 14.63*** | bd, be, cd, ce, de, ef |
| N | 3,511 | 74 | 1,177 | 1,303 | 526 | 272 | 158 | ||
| % | 100 | 2.1 | 33.5 | 37.1 | 15 | 7.7 | 4.5 | ||
Asterisks denote signifcance level of F-statistic, where
*
P < 0.05.
**
P < 0.01.
***
P < 0.001.
Post-hoc comparisons were conducted using ANOVA; signifcant (P < 0.05) subgroup differences are denoted as ab: underweight vs. normal; ac: underweight vs. overweight; ad: underweight vs. obese I; ae: underweight vs. obese II/III; af: underweight vs. weight missing; bc: normal vs. overweight; bd: normal vs. obese I; be: normal vs. obese II/III; bf: normal vs. weight missing; cd: overweight vs. obese I; ce: overweight vs. obese II; cf: overweight vs. missing; de: obese I vs. obese II/III; df: obese I vs. weight missing; ef: obese II/III vs. weight missing.