UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Weight loss motivations: a latent class analysis approach
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine
Publication Date
2014-07-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adult; Body Mass Index; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; *Motivation; Odds Ratio; Overweight; *Weight Loss
Disciplines
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Public Health
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To identify subgroups of adults with respect to weight loss motivations and assess factors associated with subgroup membership.
METHOD: A cross-sectional survey among 414 overweight/ obese employees in 12 Massachusetts high schools was conducted. Latent class analysis (LCA) defined distinct weight loss motivation classes. Multinomial logistic regression assessed participant characteristics with class membership.
RESULTS: Three classes emerged: improving health; improving health and looking/feeling better; and improving health, looking/feeling, better and improving personal/social life. Compared to class 1, class 2 was more likely to be female and younger and class 3 was more likely to be female, younger, have children at home, and perceive themselves as very over-weight.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings can inform targeted weight loss interventions.
DOI of Published Version
10.5993/AJHB.38.4.14
Source
Am J Health Behav. 2014 Jul;38(4):605-13. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.38.4.14. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
American journal of health behavior
PubMed ID
24636123
Repository Citation
Lemon SC, Schneider KL, Wang ML, Liu Q, Magner RP, Estabrook B, Druker S, Pbert L. (2014). Weight loss motivations: a latent class analysis approach. UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.38.4.14. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/707