This study represents a limited application of Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior in a weight control program for enlisted US Army soldiers. Relationships of client singularity variables (demographic characteristics, motivation, psychological distress, and designation as overweight or normal weight) to one another and to preintervention measures of client outcomes (health status, health risk) were examined in a sample of 154 soldiers. Hypotheses deduced from the model were tested using multiple regression. The Cox model received partial support, in that some client singularity variables were interrelated; they explained nearly half of the variance in health status, but less than 25% of the variance in health risk. Demographic characteristics were not effective predictors in the present study, perhaps because of the homogeneous sample. The model has potential utility for providing baseline information for preventive health programs in occupational settings.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the assumptions underlying the Army's Weight Control Program (AWCP) and to determine whether overweight and normal-weight soldiers differed with respect to health risk, health status, self-motivation, psychological symptomatic distress, and physical fitness. The sample consisted of 154 active-duty male and female enlisted Army soldiers assigned to the Maryland and District of Washington area: 77 overweight soldiers and 77 normal-weight soldiers were randomly selected from a gender-stratified, unit-specific list. To test the hypothesis that the two groups would differ, data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The hypothesis was supported. The overweight and normal-weight soldiers differed, with the former having greater health risk, lower health status, and lower physical fitness; but the two groups did not differ in self-motivation or psychological symptomatic distress. These results support the concept that obesity is associated with increased morbidity. Further studies are necessary to examine the mechanisms by which endogenous physiological factors contribute to the expression of obesity.