How the Cause of Obesity is Framed Impacts Wellbeing among Overweight Individuals

RM 215

Approximately two thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012). Increased prevalence of obesity has led to discussion and framing of the issue as a threat to the health care system and as a societal burden to others (Tomiyama, 2014). Framing the problem in this manner has resulted in greater stigmatization of the overweight, which might contribute to poor health factors that underlie some forms of obesity (Tomiyama et al., 2014). In the present study, we examined how framing the cause of obesity as biological, personal, or unknown might impact perceived weight stigma, self-esteem, and eating behavior. We predicted that participants who read an article framing obesity as a result of personal responsibility would report greater perceived weight stigma, lower self-esteem, and more maladaptive eating behaviors than participants who read an article suggesting that obesity is the result of biological factors or of some unknown factor. Undergraduate college students who consider themselves to be overweight were recruited to participate in an online study that involved reading an article framing obesity as a result of (1) biological factors, (2) personal responsibility, or (3) some unknown factor (control group). Participants then completed the Perceived Stigma of the Overweight Scale (McCoy, Wellman, Cosley, Saslow, & Epel, 2015), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (van Strien, Frijters, Bergers, & Defares, 1986). Following completion of data collection and detailed statistical analyses, results will be discussed from a resource depletion perspective.