Mapping the physical activity and sport biography of obese people - A pilot study
Thiel A, Thedinga H, Carl J (2017)
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2017
Edited Volumes: The Values of Sport: Between tradition and (post)modernity. Abstract Book of the 14th European Association for Sociology of Sport Conference from 14-17 June 2017 in Prague
Pages Range: 97-98
Abstract
The unwillingness of obese individuals to be physically active often has a biographical background. However, the history of their aversions against sport and physical activity is rarely considered in research. Methodologically, the "chaotic structures" (Frank, 1995) of emotional traumas and weight-related stigmatisation experiences require specific analytic instruments. Our paper will present a new method for biographical research. This instrument allows visual reconstructions and standardisations of activity related events and processes in the biography of obese people.
From a sociological perspective, a person’s individuality is manifested in his/her biography (Schimank, 1988). Biographies ‘bundle’ reflections about experiences in the individual ‘life-world’ in the form of a ‘reflexive self-consciousness’. This structures how the individual perceives, thinks about, and acts in a social field.
Biographical analyses therefore give information about the genesis of health and body practices.
We will present our method using findings from a pilot-study with thirty obese men and women. In order to analyse (in)activity biographies, we conducted biographical mappings (Thiel et al., 2011), as part of problem-centered interviews. Participants firstly structured their biographies by mapping important life-events. Secondly, they identified critical events which impacted their sport participation. Thirdly, they visually retraced changes in their sport and physical activity behaviour, stigmatisation experiences and subjective health over time using an intensity scale. Polynomial regression analyses were calculated to predict and compare the courses of dimensional graphs. Our study demonstrates new possibilities for mixed-method analyses of (in)activity biographies of obese people.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Thiel, A., Thedinga, H., & Carl, J. (2017). Mapping the physical activity and sport biography of obese people - A pilot study. In Slepičková, I. (Eds.), The Values of Sport: Between tradition and (post)modernity. Abstract Book of the 14th European Association for Sociology of Sport Conference from 14-17 June 2017 in Prague. (pp. 97-98).
MLA:
Thiel, Ansgar, Hendrik Thedinga, and Johannes Carl. "Mapping the physical activity and sport biography of obese people - A pilot study." The Values of Sport: Between tradition and (post)modernity. Abstract Book of the 14th European Association for Sociology of Sport Conference from 14-17 June 2017 in Prague. Ed. Slepičková, I., 2017. 97-98.
BibTeX: Download