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Obesity Surgery
Published in: Obesity Surgery 11/2018

01-11-2018 | Brief Communication

Causal Attributions for Obesity Among Patients Seeking Surgical Versus Behavioral/Pharmacological Weight Loss Treatment

Authors: Rebecca L. Pearl, Thomas A. Wadden, Kelly C. Allison, Ariana M. Chao, Naji Alamuddin, Robert I. Berkowitz, Olivia Walsh, Jena Shaw Tronieri

Published in: Obesity Surgery | Issue 11/2018

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Abstract

Obesity is frequently attributed to causes such as laziness and lack of willpower and personal responsibility. The current study identified causal attributions for obesity among patients seeking bariatric surgery and compared them to those among patients seeking less invasive weight loss treatment (behavioral/pharmacological). The 16-item Causal Attributions for Obesity scale (CAO; rated 1–7) was administered to 102 patients seeking bariatric surgery (sample 1) and 178 patients seeking behavioral/pharmacological weight loss treatment (sample 2). Between-subjects analyses compared CAO ratings for the two samples. Results showed that behavioral factors were the highest-rated attributions in both samples. Sample 1 had higher ratings of biological and environmental factors than did sample 2. Overall, patients seeking bariatric surgery had a more complex conceptualization of obesity than did patients seeking behavioral/pharmacological treatment. Trial registration: NCT02388568
Footnotes
1
Analyses were also conducted excluding the “psychological problems” item from the Biology/Brain factor, and results did not change.
 
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Metadata
Title
Causal Attributions for Obesity Among Patients Seeking Surgical Versus Behavioral/Pharmacological Weight Loss Treatment
Authors
Rebecca L. Pearl
Thomas A. Wadden
Kelly C. Allison
Ariana M. Chao
Naji Alamuddin
Robert I. Berkowitz
Olivia Walsh
Jena Shaw Tronieri
Publication date
01-11-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Obesity Surgery / Issue 11/2018
Print ISSN: 0960-8923
Electronic ISSN: 1708-0428
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-018-3490-7

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