Obese people who seek treatment have different characteristics than those who do not seek treatment.

Fitzgibbon, Marian L., Stolley, Melinda R., Kirschenbaum, Daniel S.·1993·Health Psychology
DOI 10.1037//0278-6133.12.5.342

Abstract

A group of obese people who had not sought treatment, an obese group who had sought treatment in a professional, hospital-based program, and normal-weight controls (N = 547) were compared in regard to level of psychopathology, binge eating, and negative emotional eating. Because the groups differed significantly on several demographic variables, 3 demographically matched groups were created and compared (n = 177, 59 per group). In the matched subgroups, obese people who had sought treatment reported greater psychopathology and more binge eating than did those who had not sought treatment or did normal-weight controls. Both obese groups (including those who had not sought treatment) endorsed more symptoms of distress, negative emotional eating, overeating, difficulty resisting temptation, and less exercise than did normal-weight controls.

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  3. Overweight, Obesity, and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Adolescents: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
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Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Obese people who seek treatment have different characteristics than those who do not seek treatment. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0278-6133.12.5.342
The paper
Fitzgibbon, M. L., Stolley, M. R., & Kirschenbaum, D. S. (1993). Obese people who seek treatment have different characteristics than those who do not seek treatment. Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.12.5.342

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