Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Public beliefs about the causes of obesity and attitudes towards policy initiatives in Great Britain.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Beeken, Rebecca J. Wardle, Jane |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | OBJECTIVE To assess attributions for overweight and the level of support for policy initiatives in Great Britain. DESIGN Cross-sectional. Respondents indicated their agreement (5-point scales: strongly disagree to strongly agree) to three potential causes of overweight (environment, genes, willpower) and five policies (free weight-loss treatment, taxing unhealthy foods, healthy lifestyle campaigns, food labelling, advertising restrictions). SETTING Data were collected as part of a computer-assisted, face-to-face Omnibus survey of adults (aged >15 years) from across Great Britain in April 2012 carried out by a market research company. SUBJECTS A population-representative sample of British adults (n 1986). RESULTS More people attributed overweight to the food environment (61 %) and lack of willpower (57 %) than to genes (45 %). Policy support was highest for healthy lifestyle campaigns (71 %) and food labelling (66 %), and lowest for taxing unhealthy foods (32 %). Food environment attributions were associated with higher support for all policies (P < 0·001). Genetic attributions were associated with higher support for free weight-loss treatments and healthy lifestyle campaigns (P < 0·001), but not other policies. Attributions to lack of willpower were not associated differentially with support for any policies (P > 0·01). CONCLUSIONS Belief that overweight is caused by the food environment or genes – both seen as outside individual control – was associated with greater support for government policies to prevent and treat obesity. Improving awareness of the multiple causes of obesity could facilitate acceptance of policy action to reduce obesity prevalence. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1017/S1368980013001821 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1368980013001821 |
| PubMed reference number | 23866723 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980013001821 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 16 |
| Issue Number | 12 |
| Journal | Public health nutrition |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
