IDENTIFICATION OF MOTIVES UNDERLYING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES LEADING TO OVERWEIGHT AND/OR OBESITY AMONG STUDENTS IN ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the psychological motives that promote overweight and obesity. More specifically, the study sought to develop a valid and reliable scale that could tap people’s perceptions about the motives for overweight and obesity. The findings from the study identified the three factors of ‘eating and snacking frequently’, ‘lack of motivation to exercise’, and ‘living an unhealthy lifestyle’ as three major motives for overweight and obesity among Thai young adults. The implications of the findings with regard to the development of effective intervention strategies to predict at-risk young adults as well as to evaluate and guide responses to them are discussed.