Variations in weight stigma concerns (original) (raw)
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Weight stigma as a psychosocial contributor to obesity
American Psychologist
Weight stigma is a key aspect of the lived experience of individuals with obesity, and adversely affects health. This article provides an overview of recent evidence examining links between experiences of weight stigma and weight-related behaviors and health (e.g., maladaptive eating, physical activity, stress, obesity, weight loss), including health consequences for individuals with heightened vulnerability to weight stigma (e.g., youth and people seeking bariatric surgery) and implications for clinicians working with individuals who have obesity. This literature points to weight stigma as a psychosocial contributor to obesogenic behaviors, yet the role of weight stigma in weight loss among treatment-seeking individuals has received little attention. Research priorities are identified, including the need for future studies to (a) determine the potentially predictive value of specific characteristics of weight-stigmatizing experiences for weight loss (such as the time period, interpersonal sources, and coping responses for stigma experiences), (b) identify mechanisms through which weight stigma may undermine or facilitate weight-related treatment outcomes, and (c) test strategies that can be implemented in weight management programs to reduce the negative impact of weight stigma on health behaviors. Broadly, more attention should be directed to weight stigma in the obesity field as a relevant psychosocial factor in obesity-focused prevention and treatment. Public Significance Statement This article reviews evidence of the ways in which weight stigma may contribute to obesity in youth and adults, such as maladaptive eating behaviors, stress, and weight gain. Additionally, it highlights the importance of addressing weight stigma in clinical practice, through education and efforts to promote a supportive culture of patient care for individuals who are vulnerable to weight stigma.
Obesity Stigma: Important Considerations for Public Health
American Journal of Public Health, 2010
Stigma and discrimination toward obese persons are pervasive and pose numerous consequences for their psychological and physical health. Despite decades of science documenting weight stigma, its public health implications are widely ignored. Instead, obese persons are blamed for their weight, with common perceptions that weight stigmatization is justifiable and may motivate individuals to adopt healthier behaviors. We examine evidence to address these assumptions and discuss their public health implications. On the basis of current findings, we propose that weight stigma is not a beneficial public health tool for reducing obesity. Rather, stigmatization of obese individuals threatens health, generates health disparities, and interferes with effective obesity intervention efforts. These findings highlight weight stigma as both a social justice issue and a priority for public health.
Weight Perception, Weight Stigma Concerns, and Overeating
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 2018
Perceiving one's own weight status as being overweight is a likely motivation for weight loss. However, self-perceived overweight status has also been found to be associated with overeating and weight gain. This study examined whether weight stigma concerns explain why individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are at increased risk of overeating. We conducted two survey studies of United States adults (N = 1,236) in which we assessed whether weight stigma concerns explain the cross-sectional relationship between perceived overweight and overeating tendencies. Across two studies, the cross-sectional relationship between perceived overweight and overeating tendencies was in part explained by weight stigma concerns. Participants who perceived their weight as "overweight" reported greater weight stigma concerns than participants who perceived their weight as "about right," and this explained 23.3% (Study 1) to 58.6% (Study 2) of the variance in t...
Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Obesity in a Representative Population-based Sample
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine stigmatizing attitudes toward obesity in the population, and its related psychological and sociodemographic determinants. Methods and Procedures: In a representative population-based survey (N = 1,000), computer-assisted telephone interviewing was used to assess stigmatizing attitudes toward obesity, causal attributions of obesity, the labeling of obesity as an illness, perceptions about prevalence, severity, and chronicity of obesity, support of obesity prevention, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Of the 1,000 participants, 23.5% (n = 235) had stigmatizing attitudes toward obesity, 21.5% (n = 215) did not have stigmatizing attitudes toward obesity, and 55.0% (n = 550) had attitudes that were undetermined with respect to stigmatization. Predictors of greater stigmatization were more causal attributions of obesity to individual behavior, less education, and older age, while causal attributions of obesity to heredity and labeling obesity as an illness predicted less stigmatization. Stigmatizing attitudes were significantly associated with stronger overall support of obesity prevention, but less readiness to support prevention financially. Discussion: Our results indicate that stigmatizing attitudes toward obesity are prevalent in the population. Information about the etiology of obesity and the clinical relevance of this condition could prove useful for destigmatization efforts.
Eating behaviors, 2014
Although obesity stigmatization contributes to significant health, economic, and quality-of-life challenges for U.S. adults, the prevalence and nature of stigmatizing attitudes requires an update and clarification. The present study sought to examine the prevalence and major dimensions of negative attitudes toward obesity through assessment of young U.S. adults' responses to the Attitudes Toward Obese Persons Scale. Participants were women (n=578) and men (n=233) who completed self-report questionnaires assessing obesity stigmatization and eating disorder features. Results indicate that at least one stigmatizing attitude was endorsed by 92.5% of respondents, with an average endorsement rate of 32.8% across items. Eating disorder features, body size, and gender were not related to one's likelihood of endorsing negative attitudes toward obesity. Distinct clusters of negative attitudes were identified involving beliefs that "obese people suffer" and "obese people...
Internalizing Weight Stigma: Prevalence and Sociodemographic Considerations in US Adults
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 2018
This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the presence, severity, and sociodemographic correlates of weight bias internalization (WBI) across three distinct samples of US adults. Levels of WBI were compared in (1) a sample of adults with obesity and heightened risk of weight stigma (N = 456), (2) an online community sample (N = 519), and (3) a national online panel (N = 2,529). Samples 2 and 3 comprised adults with and without obesity. Participants completed identical self-report measures, including demographic variables and weight-related factors, to determine their relationship with low, mean, and high levels of WBI. At least 44% of adults across samples endorsed mean levels of WBI (as determined by sample 3). The highest levels of WBI were endorsed by approximately one in five adults in the general population samples and by 52% in the sample of adults with obesity. Individuals with the highest WBI were white, had less education and income, were currently trying to...
Stigma and the perpetuation of obesity
Social Science & Medicine, 2014
Even as obesity rates reach new highs, the social stigmatization of obesity seems to be strengthening and globalizing. This review identifies at least four mechanisms by which a pervasive environment of fat stigma could reinforce high body weights or promote weight gain, ultimately driving population-level obesity. These are direct effects through behavior change because of feeling judged, and indirect effects of social network changes based on stigmatizing actions and decisions by others, psychosocial stress from feeling stigmatized, and the structural effects of discrimination. Importantly, women and children appear especially vulnerable to these mechanisms. The broader model provides an improved basis to investigate the role of stigma in driving the etiology of obesity, and explicates how individual, interpersonal, and structural dimensions of stigma are connected to variation in health outcomes, including across generations.
The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update
Obesity, 2009
nature publishing group Reviews epidemiology Obese individuals are highly stigmatized and face multiple forms of prejudice and discrimination because of their weight (1,2). The prevalence of weight discrimination in the United States has increased by 66% over the past decade (3), and is comparable to rates of racial discrimination, especially among women (4). Weight bias translates into inequities in employment settings, health-care facilities, and educational institutions, often due to widespread negative stereotypes that overweight and obese persons are lazy, unmotivated, lacking in self-discipline, less competent, noncompliant, and sloppy (2,5-7). These stereotypes are prevalent and are rarely challenged in Western society, leaving overweight and obese persons vulnerable to social injustice, unfair treatment, and impaired quality of life as a result of substantial disadvantages and stigma. In 2001, Puhl and Brownell published the first comprehensive review of several decades of research documenting bias and stigma toward overweight and obese persons (2). This review summarized weight stigma in domains of employment, health care, and education, demonstrating the vulnerability of obese persons to many forms of unfair treatment. Despite evidence of weight bias in important areas of living, the authors noted many gaps in research regarding the nature and extent of weight stigma in various settings, the lack of science on emotional and physical health consequences of weight bias, and the paucity of interventions to reduce negative stigma. In recent years, attention to weight bias has increased, with a growing recognition of the pervasiveness of weight bias and stigma, and its potential harmful consequences for obese persons. The aim of this article is to provide an update of scientific evidence on weight bias toward overweight and obese adults through a systematic review of published literature since the 2001 article by Puhl and Brownell. This review expands upon previous findings of weight bias in major domains of living, documents new areas where weight bias has been studied, and highlights ongoing research questions that need to be addressed to advance this field of study. A systematic literature search of studies published between January 2000 and May 2008 was undertaken on computerized psychological,
The Negative and Bidirectional Effects of Weight Stigma on Health
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2017
This chapter introduces a model describing the mechanisms by which weight stigma can lead to poorer health outcomes among people who are or who perceive themselves to be overweight. It is proposed that enacted weight stigma (discrimination) directly impairs the health of heavier weight individuals by changing the social and material aspects of their lives in ways that are detrimental to health. It is also proposed that perceived weight stigma can lead to social identity threat, which in turn can indirectly impair health by increasing stress and negative emotions, physiological reactivity, calorie intake, and stigma-avoidance behaviors. Finally, it is proposed that weight stigma is bidirectional, in that experiencing weight stigma leads to weight gain or inhibits weight loss through increased eating and other biobehavioral mechanisms, which in turn lead to further stigmatization. Implications for health and recommendations for future research are discussed.