title: Beliefs, attitudes and phobias among Mexican medical and psychology students towards people with obesity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A high prevalence of stigmatizing attitude among healthcare personnel towards obese people has been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the beliefs, attitudes and phobias that Mexican medical and psychology students have towards obese people.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted with 528 students enrolled at the Autonomous University of Baja California in psychology and medical schools. Weight, height and waist circumference were evaluated. Beliefs about obesity were assessed with the BAOP scale, attitudes towards obese people by the ATOP scale and obesity phobias by the F-scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants achieved a mean F-scale score of 3.4. Only seven per cent showed neutral or positive attitudes towards obesity (≤2.5). Less fat phobia was associated with beliefs that obesity was not a result of the person's self-control (p = 0.0001) and had better attitudes towards obese people (p = 0.0001). Men had higher risk of fat phobia (OR = 1.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High prevalence of phobias and negative attitudes towards obesity was observed. Men had higher stigma.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Medical and Psychology School. México..
authors.forename: Lucero
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Medical and Psychology School. México..
authors.forename: Ana Lilia
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Armendariz-Anguiano
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Medical and Psychology School. México..
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacardí-Gascón
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Medical and Psychology School. México.. arturojimenezc@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez Cruz
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D009765:Obesity; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011584:Psychology; D013336:Students, Health Occupations; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult