---
title: "Americans See Weight Problems Everywhere But In the Mirror"
description: "Americans believe their fellow Americans have gotten fat. They consider this a serious national problem. But when they think about weight, they appear to use different scales for different people."
date: "2006-04-11"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2006/04/11/americans-see-weight-problems-everywhere-but-in-the-mirror/"
categories:
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Medicine & Health"
datasets:
  - name: "Diet/Gambling/Movies"
    url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/dietgamblingmovies/"
---

# Americans See Weight Problems Everywhere But In the Mirror

![People looking in mirror](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/legacy/obesity-interior.gif)

Americans believe their fellow Americans have gotten fat. They consider this a serious national problem. But when they think about weight, they appear to use different scales for different people.

Nine-in-ten American adults say most of their fellow Americans are overweight. But just seven-in-ten say this about "the people they know." And just under four-in-ten (39%) say they themselves are overweight.

These sliding assessments are drawn from a Pew Research Center telephone survey conducted from February 8 through March 7 among a randomly selected, representative national sample of 2,250 adults.

The survey finds that most Americans, including those who say they are overweight, agree that personal behavior - rather than genetic disposition or marketing by food companies - is the main reason people are overweight. In particular, the public says that a failure to get enough exercise is the most important reason, followed by a lack of willpower about what to eat. About half the public also says that the kinds of foods marketed at restaurants and grocery stores are a very important cause, and roughly a third say the same about the effect of genetics and heredity.

*Read the [full report](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/Obesity.pdf) for more details.*