Public beliefs about causes of obesity in the USA and in Germany

Abstract

Differences in public beliefs about causes of obesity between the USA and Germany are analyzed. We additionally examine the relevance of social characteristics of individuals with obesity for causal attributions in the two countries. National telephone surveys were conducted in both countries (total sample\u2009=\u20092802). Vignettes describing a person with obesity were used and varied according to gender, migration status, and occupational position. Beliefs about causes of obesity were assessed by 12 items, representing four dimensions (‘sociocultural causes’, ‘behavior-related causes’, ‘somatic and psychological causes,’ and ‘educational and financial causes’). Respondents from the USA more strongly support sociocultural as well as educational and financial causes of obesity. When the person with obesity has a low occupational position or is a migrant, sociocultural causes are considered more important, whereas agreement to behavioral as well as somatic and psychological factors is less pronounced. In the USA, external causal attributions (i.e., causes that are beyond individual’s control) seem to play a more important role than in Germany. In both countries, public causal beliefs about obesity vary according to social characteristics of the person afflicted.