Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether weight-related health beliefs differed between women who perceived themselves as heavier than their ideal size compared to women who perceived themselves to be at or below their ideal.
Method: The Health Beliefs Questionnaire (HBQ), based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, was used to assess weight beliefs related to theory constructs (attitude toward behavior, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control), and knowledge of obesity health risks, current nutrition, exercise, and weight behaviors, and intention to lose weight. The Body Size Guide (BSG), a pictorial BMI-based measure of weight perceptions, was used to assess perceptions of current and ideal body size. Questionnaires were administered to 322 adult female participants. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the population and determine the association between perceived body size and health beliefs.
Result: The average age of respondents was 36 years (range 24 – 77); slightly less than half of the women (45%) had education beyond high school and three-fourths (75%) were married. When presented with the BSG images, 80% of respondents perceived their current size as larger than their ideal. Student’s t-tests revealed that women who perceived themselves as larger than ideal scored significantly higher on knowledge of weight-related health problems (p = 0.006), intention to lose weight (p < 0.001), subjective norm for weight loss (p < 0.001), and perceived inhibitors to weight loss (p < 0.001), and these women scored significantly lower on perceived behavioral control (p = 0.017). There were no significant differences in current weight-related behaviors, attitudes toward behavior, perceived facilitators to weight loss, or perceived likelihood to lose weight if it was recommended for their health.
Conclusion: In conclusion, women who perceive themselves as larger than ideal have stronger intentions to lose weight and greater perceptions that others believe they should lose weight, but they perceive significant barriers to success and do not have significantly different weight-related actions than women who perceive themselves as at or below their ideal weight. Because the Theory of Planned Behavior indicates that intention is the strongest predictor of future behavior and we were not able to assess behavior longitudinally, further research is needed to compare long-term behavior change in these groups.
Candidate for the Lee B. Lusted Student Prize Competition