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(continuous measure, ranging from 25 to 74), sex (1= female; 0 = male), race (1 = Black; 0 =
other), and marital status (categorical variables indicate persons who are never married, and
persons who are formerly married. Currently married is the reference group). Socioeconomic
status variables include educational attainment and occupational group. Years of completed
education are recoded into the following categories: less than 12 years, 12 years (reference
category), 13-15 years, and 16 or more years of education. Current (or most recent) occupation is
coded into two broad categories: upper white-collar (including professional, executive, and
managerial occupations), and a combined category including both lower white-collar (including
sales and clerical) and blue-collar (including crafts, operatives, labor, and farm occupations)
workers. Lower white-collar and blue-collar workers comprise the reference group.
Physical health is controlled in the models predicting psychological well-being. Being
overweight is a risk factor for multiple health problems, including heart disease and diabetes, and
the overweight typically report feeling worse physically (Feinleib 1985; Ferraro and Yu 1995).
Physical health, in turn, is strongly correlated with emotional health (Anashensel et al. 1984).
Physical health is evaluated here with the question: “In general, would you say your physical
health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor.” Responses are recoded into a dichotomous
variable where 1 = fair/poor, and good or better is the reference group.
Discrimination experiences. Perceived discrimination experiences are the outcome
measures for the first part of the analysis. In the second part of the analysis, discrimination is an
independent variable; we evaluate whether the linkage between obesity and self-acceptance is
attributable, in part, to experiences of discrimination. We consider the following dichotomous
indicators of discrimination: whether one has ever experienced an incidence of major
discrimination, and whether one has ever experienced day-to-day minor discrimination. Finally,
Convention