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Taking action to lose weight: Toward an understanding of individual differences
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Taking action to lose weight: Toward an understanding of individual differences

Rachel A Annunziato and Michael R Lowe
Eating behaviors : an international journal, v 8(2)
2007
PMID: 17336789

Abstract

Obesity Treatment-seeking Dieting Help-seeking Predictors
The purpose of the present study was to understand differences in obese/overweight individuals who do and do not seek ongoing external assistance for weight loss. Help-seeking was examined as a dichotomous and as a continuous variable. Measures of body mass index, comorbid medical conditions, socioeconomic status, psychological distress, disordered eating behavior, body image, and obesity-related knowledge were administered to a community sample of 120 overweight women (age: 22–65 y, BMI: 25–63 kg/m 2). Fewer predictors of help-seeking were identified when measuring help-seeking as a dichotomy than when measuring it as a continuum. All predictors were from psychosocial domains, with obesity-related knowledge being the strongest, most consistent predictor. Help-seeking for weight control in a community sample of overweight and obese individuals appears to be motivated by psychological aspects of obesity, rather than obesity's physical or medical burden.

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