Personal Responsibility And Obesity: A Constructive Approach To A Controversial Issue

The concept of personal responsibility has been central to social, legal, and political approaches to obesity. It evokes language of blame, weakness, and vice and is a leading basis for inadequate government efforts, given the importance of environmental conditions in explaining high rates of obesit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Affairs 2010-03, Vol.29 (3), p.379-387
Main Authors: Brownell, Kelly D, Kersh, Rogan, Ludwig, David S, Post, Robert C, Puhl, Rebecca M, Schwartz, Marlene B, Willett, Walter C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Beverages
Calories
Diabetes
Diet
Environmental conditions
Federal regulation
Health care policy
Laboratory animals
Nutrition research
Obesity
Politics
Public health
Public policy
Regulation
Responsibilities
Taxes
Weight control
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The concept of personal responsibility has been central to social, legal, and political approaches to obesity. It evokes language of blame, weakness, and vice and is a leading basis for inadequate government efforts, given the importance of environmental conditions in explaining high rates of obesity. These environmental conditions can override individual physical and psychological regulatory systems that might otherwise stand in the way of weight gain and obesity, hence undermining personal responsibility, narrowing choices, and eroding personal freedoms. Personal responsibility can be embraced as a value by placing priority on legislative and regulatory actions such as improving school nutrition, menu labeling, altering industry marketing practices, and even such controversial measures as the use of food taxes that create healthier defaults, thus supporting responsible behavior and bridging the divide between views based on individualistic versus collective responsibility. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0739