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We appreciate the interest of Professor Kawada in our article [1, 2]. Several studies have described the relationship of individual and environmental/neighbourhood deprivation both with current and future weight status [3, 4]. Matthews et al. suggested that psycho-social factors, such as locus of control or self-efficacy, could explain the relationship between socioeconomic deprivation and overweight/obesity since it has been shown that they have an influence on obesity-related risk factors [5]. In our study, we aimed to develop a psycho-social construct based on relevant psycho-social factors, to assess its relation with socioeconomic characteristics. When measuring socioeconomic status, many studies only focus on one dimension of socioeconomic deprivation [6, 7]. In our study, on the opposite, socioeconomic deprivation was characterized through an eco-social approach taking into account individual and ecosystem dimensions with a life-course perspective [8, 9].
We did not observed significant associations between socioeconomic characteristics and adverse psycho-social profile but this profile (characterized by negative body image, underestimation of the impact of weight in quality of life, low weight-related self-efficacy, and weight-related external locus of control) was strongly associated to overweight/obesity as well as with depression and being a female. Due to our cross-sectional study design, we were not able to assess the direction of the observed associations; however, as suggested by Professor Kawada, future studies should consider socioeconomic characteristics during childhood and use collect data longitudinally to better understand the relation between socioeconomic status, adverse psycho-social profiles, and ultimately obesity.
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Fuentes, S. Socioeconomic characteristics and obesity-related psycho-social profiles. Eat Weight Disord 24, 979–980 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-019-00717-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-019-00717-5