Psychological well-being and weight efficacy lifestyle of adults with obesity

Background and aim: Obesity is a growing phenomena and various psychological constructs need to be addressed in obesity as psychological aspects play an important role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Psychological constructs related to obesity such as weight efficacy lifestyle play a dynamic role. There is a dearth of studies on weight efficacy lifestyle and psychological well-being among obese adults especially in the Indian setting. The aim at the present study was to examine the differences in psychological well-being and weight efficacy lifestyle in obese and normal weight Indian adults. Methods: The sample involved 200 obese adults aged 18 to 42 years and 100 normal adults belonging to age group 18 to 42 years. Body mass index, Weight Efficacy Lifestyle (WEL) scale and Ryff's Psychological Well-Being (PWB) scale were used to collect the data. t-test was used to study the differences between the two groups of obese adults and normal weight adults. Results and conclusions: The findings revealed that there were significant differences in WEL scale for two sub-domains (negative emotions, t=3.133, p<0.01 and social pressure, t=2.934, p<0.01) between the obese adults and the normal weight adults indicating that the obese adults experienced lesser negative emotions and social pressure as compared to the normal weight adults. On the PWB scale there were significant differences in three sub-domains such as autonomy (t=2.735, p<0.01), environmental mastery (t=2.496, p<0.05), and self-acceptance (t=2.190, p<0.05) between the obese adults and the normal weight adults indicating that obese adults had lower autonomy, poorer environmental mastery, and lesser self-acceptance than the normal weight adults.