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Measuring social processes regarding eating, physical activity, and weight in higher-weight people: the weight-related interactions scale (WRIS)

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Abstract

Purpose

This study sought to develop a psychometrically sound measure to assess effective and ineffective forms of input from others regarding eating, physical activity, and weight in higher-weight people, namely, the Weight-Related Interactions Scale (WRIS).

Methods

Participants (n = 736) were adults in the overweight/obese weight ranges who completed the WRIS and measures of weight-specific social support, emotional eating, weight stigma, eating-specific self efficacy, and social desirability.

Results

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the WRIS supported a three-factor solution of ‘Criticism’, ‘Minimization’, and ‘Collaboration’ as forms of weight-related input from others. Support was found for the reliability and the concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity of the WRIS.

Conclusions

The WRIS is a promising new instrument for comprehensively assessing the input of others in relation to eating, physical activity, and weight among higher-weight individuals.

Level of evidence

Level III. Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies.

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Availability of data and material

The dataset generated and analyzed during the current study is not publicly available due to ethical restrictions but is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Elizabeth Rieger, Yee Fong Lee, Conal Monaghan, Kristy Zwickert & Kristen Murray

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Rieger
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  2. Yee Fong Lee
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  3. Conal Monaghan
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  4. Kristy Zwickert
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  5. Kristen Murray
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by ER, YFL, KM, and KZ. Data collection and analysis were performed by ER, YFL, and CM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ER and YFL, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Rieger.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial or non-financial interest to declare.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Australian National University (Protocol 2017/508).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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All individual participants provided infomed consent regarding publishing their data.

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Rieger, E., Lee, Y.F., Monaghan, C. et al. Measuring social processes regarding eating, physical activity, and weight in higher-weight people: the weight-related interactions scale (WRIS). Eat Weight Disord 27, 737–749 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01208-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01208-2

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