Abstract
Biosocial and behavioral data on 287 obese females (168 of whom belonged to 9 successful groups and 119 of whom belonged to 8 unsuccessful groups) were collected by means of the Rating of Self Status (ROSS) scale to determine the distinguishing characteristics of (a) successful vs. unsuccessful groups; and (b) successful vs. unsuccessful individuals regardless of their group membership. Factor analysis of ROSS data identified 24 separate variables. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) that compared successful with unsuccessful groups resulted in differences that were not significant (p = 0.30). Subsequent MANOVA that contrasted remediably and irremediably obese persons, regardless of their group membership, yielded highly significant (p < 0.001) overall results and significant differences (ps ranged from 0.10 to 0.001) on 10 of the 24 ROSS factors.