Abstract
The aims of this study were to explore the situation of obesity among undergraduate students and to
determine the socio-economic and economic factors associated with obesity. A cross-sectional survey using
questionnaires was conducted among 398 students in 7 universities in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The
data were then analyzed by using a logit regression model. We found the situation of obesity in undergraduate
students as follows: 29 percent of the study sample was either overweight or obese. Of those, 64 percent
were male, 54 percent stayed in the dormitory, 35 percent failed to exercise, 27 percent were not willing to
pay for obesity treatment, 91 percent did not acknowledge themselves as obese and 38 percent had health
insurance. The socio-economic factors significantly associated with obesity among undergraduate students
were family incomes, fast food consumption, place of living, willingness to pay for obesity treatment and
sex at the 0.10 significance level. However, economic factors, such as myopic view underlying eating habits,
asymmetric information and incomplete information on nutrition and causes of obesity, did not show a
significant impact on obesity among the undergraduates. It was concluded that undergraduate students
possibly had no myopic view behavior or they knew very well concerning the information on nutrition and
causes of obesity.
