Social desirability and self-reported weight and height

Larson, Mark R.

doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0801233

Cited by 99 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It was also suggested that the misreporting of weight may be influenced by the tendency to act in a socially desirable fashion for women. 27 However, women in our study reported their weight more accurately than those in previous studies. Another Japanese study by Nakamura et al 23 reported that mean self-reported weight was 0.2 kg lighter than the measured values.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

Validity of self-reported height and weight in a Japanese workplace population

et al. 2005

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OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of self-reported height and weight in a Japanese workplace population, and to examine factors associated with the validity of self-reported weight. DESIGN: Comparison of self-reported height and weight with independent measurement. SUBJECTS: In total, 4253 men and 1148 women aged 35-64 y (mean measured body mass index (BMI): 23.3 kg/m 2 in men, 21.9 kg/m 2 in women) were included in the study. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported height and weight were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. Measured height and weight were based on annual health checkups. Sex, age, measured BMI, and the presence of hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia were examined as potential factors associated with the accuracy of self-reported weight. RESULTS: Self-reported height and weight were highly correlated with measured height and weight for men and women (Pearson's r for men and women: 0.979 and 0.988 in height, 0.961 and 0.959 in weight, 0.943 and 0.950 in BMI, respectively). For men, mean differences72 s.d. of height and weight were 0.07872.324 cm and À0.03475.012 kg, respectively, and for women 0.02971.652 cm and 0.02474.192 kg, respectively. The prevalence of obesity with BMI Z25 kg/m 2 based on selfreported data (23.6 and 11.5% for men and women, respectively) was slightly smaller than that based on measured data (24.9 and 12.4%, respectively). Specificity and sensitivity, however, were quite high for both men and women (sensitivity was 85.8 and 85.2%, and specificity was 97.0 and 98.9%, respectively). The subjects with higher measured BMI significantly underestimated their weight compared with those with smaller BMI after adjustments for age in men and women. Furthermore, the presence of diabetes in men and age in women affected self-reported weight. Neither the presence of hypertension nor hyperlipidemia was associated with reporting bias. CONCLUSION: The self-reported height and weight were generally reliable in the middle-aged employed Japanese men and women. However, it should be remembered that self-reported weight was biased by actual BMI and affected by age and the presence of diabetes.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

Validity of self-reported height and weight in a Japanese workplace population

et al. 2005

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“…However, use of self-reported weight and height is a study limitation, given that validation studies show that women tend to under-report their weight, particularly if they are obese. 19,20 Despite this acknowledged tendency, validation studies show the amount of bias appears to be fairly consistent, 21,22 which suggests weight might be consistently under-reported across time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weight gained in two years by a population of mid-aged women: how much is too much?

2006

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Objective: To establish the prevalence of weight change in mid-aged women over a 2-year period, and to assess the relationship between weight change and physical and mental well-being (SF36) in order to begin debate about the need for quantified standards of weight gain. Design: Prospective study of weight change and well-being over a 2-year period among mid-aged women participating in a large national survey. Subjects: Seven thousand two hundred and seventy women without surgical menopause aged between 45 and 50 years (termed mid-aged), enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Measurements: Weight change (self-reported weight at two time points) and physical and mental well-being (SF-36) explored using linear regression, while adjusting for potential confounders. Results: Only half the women maintained their weight within 2.25 kg, and one-third gained more than this amount in a 2-year period. While weight gain (X2.25 kg) was negatively associated with physical well-being, both weight loss and weight gain were associated with poorer mental well-being. Conclusion: This is the first prospective study using a large, population-based cohort to demonstrate that small changes in weight are associated with changes in well-being in mid-aged Australian women. It provides further evidence of the need for public health messages to specify the actual amount that constitutes weight gain, but further research is needed to establish these standards for the entire population.

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“…However, we found smaller differences in weight misreporting between BMI categories than those observed by another internet-based study (Pursey et al 2014) in which under-reporting among overweight and obese participants was -1.36 kg compared with -0.31 kg in those of normal BMI. A possible explanation for the greater degree of misreporting of body weight by overweight and obese individuals lies in the social desirability concept, which argues that perceptions are influenced by desires to conform to perceived societal norms and that, with respect to body weight, such pressures apply more strongly in obese participants (Larson 2000). However, the estimated proportion of subjects for whom SR height, weight and calculated BMI were within 5 % of the measured values were 100 % (n = 140) for height, 96 % (n = 135) for weight and 92 % (n = 129) for estimated BMI, respectively.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How reliable is internet-based self-reported identity, socio-demographic and obesity measures in European adults?

et al. 2015

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In e-health intervention studies, there are concerns about the reliability of internet-based, self-reported (SR) data and about the potential for identity fraud. This study introduced and tested a novel procedure for assessing the validity of internet-based, SR identity and validated anthropometric and demographic data via measurements performed face-to-face in a validation study (VS). Participants (n = 140) from seven European countries, participating in the Food4Me intervention study which aimed to test the efficacy of personalised nutrition approaches delivered via the internet, were invited to take part in the VS. Participants visited a research centre in each country within 2 weeks of providing SR data via the internet. Participants received detailed instructions on how to perform each measurement. Individual's identity was checked visually and by repeated collection and analysis of buccal cell DNA for 33 genetic variants. Validation of identity using genomic information showed perfect concordance between SR and VS. Similar results were found for demographic data (age and sex verification). We observed strong intra-class correlation coefficients between SR and VS for anthropometric data (height 0.990, weight 0.994 and BMI 0.983). However, internet-based SR weight was under-reported (D -0.70 kg [-3.6 to 2.1], p \ 0.0001) and, therefore, BMI was lower for SR data (D -0.29 kg m -2 [-1.5 to 1.0], p \ 0.0001). BMI classification was correct in 93 % of cases. We demonstrate the utility of genotype information for detection of possible identity fraud in e-health studies and confirm the reliability Carlos Celis-Morales and Katherine M. Livingstone have contributed equally to this work.On behalf of the Food4Me Study.Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Electronic supplementary material 123Genes Nutr (2015) 10:28 DOI 10.1007/s12263-015-0476-0 of internet-based, SR anthropometric and demographic data collected in the Food4Me study.Trial registration: NCT01530139 (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ show/NCT01530139).

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Social desirability and self-reported weight and height

Cited by 99 publications

References 13 publications

Validity of self-reported height and weight in a Japanese workplace population

Validity of self-reported height and weight in a Japanese workplace population

Weight gained in two years by a population of mid-aged women: how much is too much?

How reliable is internet-based self-reported identity, socio-demographic and obesity measures in European adults?

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