Perceived underlying causes of obesity among overweight and obese women: An exploratory factor analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The underlying causes of obesity and their association with Body Mass Index (BMI) and demographic factors among overweight and obese women were identified. STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional study, exploratory factor analysis. METHODS: A questionnaire including 26 possible causes of obesity was completed by 300 overweight and obese women. An exploratory factor analyses and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: The most important reported causes of obesity were eating rice (80.9%), dinner (77.7%), bread (77.1%) and being physically inactive (77.2%). A factor analysis revealed four factors, accounted for 36.9% of total variance in the original 26 variables. Provisional names were assigned to these 4 factors namely effect of eating large amount of energy dense snacks and fast foods, consuming a lot in main meal and lack of physical activity, family members, non-hunger related eating. In regression model, after adjusting for other covariables, socioeconomic status had significant correlation with two factors including "effect of non-hunger relating eating" (beta = 0.22, p-value = 0.002) and "effect of family members" (beta = 0.17, p-value = 0.01). Being married had a significant positive association with the factor "effect of family members" (beta = 0.15, p-value = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Considering the importance of dietary and physical activity factors as perceived underlying causes of obesity, for developing effective obesity prevention strategies these factors should be taken in to account.