Framing Obesity: Effects of Obesity Labeling and Prevalence Statistics on Public Perceptions

Autor/inn/en	Liu, Jiawei; Lee, ByungGu; McLeod, Douglas M.; Choung, Hyesun
Titel	Framing Obesity: Effects of Obesity Labeling and Prevalence Statistics on Public Perceptions
Quelle	In: Health Education & Behavior, 46 (2019) 2, S.322-328 (7 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Liu, Jiawei)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1090-1981
DOI	10.1177/1090198118788907
Schlagwörter	Obesity; Incidence; Health Promotion; Public Health; Behavior Change; Labeling (of Persons); Body Composition; Diseases; Body Weight; Cues; Help Seeking; Medical Services; Body Height; Severity (of Disability); Surveys; Health Behavior + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Adipositas; Vorkommen; Gesundheitsfürsorge; Gesundheitshilfe; Reihenuntersuchung; Gesundheitswesen; Labeling-Ansatz; Disease; Krankheit; Körpergewicht; Stichwort; Help-seeking behavior; Help-seeking behaviour; Hilfe suchendes Verhalten; Arzt; Körpergröße; Schweregrad; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Health behaviour; Gesundheitsverhalten
Abstract	The rising prevalence rate of obesity in the United States has accentuated concerns about obesity-related problems as a major public health issue, which has motivated widespread efforts to increase public knowledge and to motivate individuals to change their relevant behaviors. Although health campaign messages commonly include information about prevalence rates for obesity, the impact of obesity labeling and prevalence rate descriptions in such messages has been overlooked by researchers. This online framing experiment fills the research gap by investigating the effects of obesity labeling (disease vs. body type) and prevalence statistics (prevalence rates of obesity, extreme obesity, combined overweight-obesity, or no prevalence information). Our findings suggest that obesity perceptions deviate from reality and that participants use framed cues in the health message as reference points when making judgments related to the nature and prevalence of obesity. Moreover, this study shows that even accurate information might lead to inaccurate perceptions as a result of framing, and perceptions of the nature and prevalence of obesity mediate the effects of framing on behavioral intentions. Implications for obesity framing and the design of public health messages are discussed. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01