Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
The effects of vigour on measures of obesity across time
Arie Shirom1, Samuel Melamed, Shlomo Berliner
1Tel Aviv University, Israel Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel Aviv, Israel. ashirom@post.tau.ac.il
Objectives:
Past studies expected measures of obesity to be positively associated with positive affects. However, this hypothesis was not tested in reference to a specific positive affect. We tested the hypothesized unidirectional effects of measures of obesity on vigour, representing a positive affect, and of vigour on measures of obesity.
Design:
We used a longitudinal design, separately for men and women. Participants were 1,876 and 931 healthy men and women, respectively, examined at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), about 2 years apart.
Methods:
Measures of obesity included body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. Vigour was assessed by the Shirom-Melamed Vigour Measure. We used structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses.
Results:
We found that for both genders, T1 measures of obesity did not predict either T1 or T2 vigour. Among both genders, we found support for the effects of T1 vigour on T1 but not on T2 measures of obesity.
Conclusions:
To the extent that the 'Jolly fat hypothesis' refers to the effects of measures of obesity on positive affects, we failed to support it for vigour as a positive affect. Vigour has contemporaneous but not longitudinal effects on body weight.
Related Concept Videos
Obesity
Metabolic States of the Body: Fasting and Starvation
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Longitudinal Studies
Energy Balance
Lifestyle Factors and Health
Benefits of Physical Activity
Physical activity, whether through structured exercise or casual activities like walking, biking, or dancing, is a cornerstone of a...

