Psychological profile to become and to stay obese

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:The presentation will successively deal with the psychological models to explain for the onset or maintenance of child obesity. DESIGN: Five psychological perspectives on childhood obesity are selected. The boundary model of Herman and Polivy (1980) was brought forward as an explanation model for understanding the overeating behaviour in obese people. Others describe obese children as over-responsive to external cues and this over-responsiveness is seen as a personality trait. Learning theories put forward how (dysfunctional) learning mechanisms can explain also why obese people eat in front of food cues, without feeling hungry. Finally, obesity can be seen as an expression of a family pathology or an emotional problem. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological explanation models are still subject of discussion. Personality variables, eating behaviour, restraint attitudes, psychopathlogy and emotional factors, learning mechanisms as well as the role of the family are to be considered in an assessment process. It may help to better empathize with both parent and child. Furthermore, it can help to tailor the treatment program to the individual needs of an obese child. Further research is needed to find out whether already during the intake psychological indicators can be found that are predictors of negative therapy outcome.

Children and eating. Personality and gender are associated with obesogenic food consumption and overweight in 6- to 12-year-olds

“…Less benevolent and less conscientious girls, and more neurotic girls, were more likely to be overweight, and these same traits were associated with girls' consumption of obesogenic sweet drinks (Erlanson-Albertsson, 2005; Sanigorski, et al, 2007). The associations of low Benevolence and low Conscientiousness with overweight status are in line with earlier studies showing higher impulsiveness and lower agreeableness associated with weight status in children and adolescent girls (Batterink, et al, 2010; Braet, 2005; Braet et al, 2007; Datar, 2004). These findings for weight status provide important new evidence of the significance of personality traits for the health of children in this particular understudied age group (6–12 years).…”

“…Research relating FFM traits to children's diets and weight is sparse. Low Conscientiousness (impulsivity, low self-regulation) has been associated with a high body mass index (BMI) in children (Braet, 2005; Braet et al, 2007; Datar, 2004) and adolescent girls (Batterink, Yokum, & Stice, 2010). Low Agreeableness combined with low Conscientiousness (i.e., high Psychoticism) was associated with eating unhealthy foods, and low Neuroticism was associated with eating healthy foods in children aged 11–15 years (MacNicol, Murray, & Austin, 2003).…”

Bariatric surgery: A primer for eating disorder professionals

“…Binge eating disorder (Carrard, Haenni, Reiner, & Golay, 2005), overeating (Braet, 2005), grazing (Saunders, 2004) and night eating syndrome (Lundgren et al, 2006;Testa, Lagattolla, Campostanto, Russo, Adami, & Grillo, 2000) are patterns of disordered eating often seen in obese individuals seeking bariatric surgery. An association may exist between preoperative problematic dietary habits, binge eating and poor long-term outcomes (de Zwaan et al, 2010;Green et al, 2004;Kalarchian, Marcus, Wilson, Labouvie, Brolin, & LaMarca, 2002).…”

From birth to adolescence: Vienna 2005 European Childhood Obesity Group International Workshop

“…Psychological explanation models are still the subject of discussion. 47 Personality variables, eating behavior, restraint attitudes, psychopathology and emotional factors, learning mechanisms as well as the role of the family are to be considered in assessment process. It may help to better empathize with both parent and child.…”