Abstract
For several decades, the U.S. media have publicized state rankings based on the percentages of each state’s population who are obese. Because Southern states in the United States consistently topped the lists, many people might assume that something about the Southern diet or lifestyle contributed to the high obesity rates. This thought process, linking diet or lifestyle with being overweight, leads people to believe personal actions and inactions are major obesity causes. To check whether the South had more obesity, a survey of U.S. adults (N = 1399) provided data that were analyzed with regressions. Other factors (e.g., income, age, and impulsiveness) were related to body mass indexes (BMIs) and geography was not. Therefore, the state rankings did not provide useful information about where obesity was most severe. A significant portion of respondents, however, believed obesity was more serious in the South and that diet and lifestyle were contributors. These attitudes can lead people to discount medical, genetic, and environmental causes of excess weight, focus on personal responsibility as a cause, and boost weight discrimination. In addition, these attitudes could also lower support for programs designed to help people lose weight. Therefore, complex issues like obesity should not be examined with single variables.
Published Version
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