IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v249y2020ics0277953620300733.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distressed or not distressed? A mixed methods examination of reactions to weight stigma and implications for emotional wellbeing and internalized weight bias

Author

Listed:
  • Pudney, Ellen V.
  • Himmelstein, Mary S.
  • Puhl, Rebecca M.
  • Foster, Gary D.

Abstract

People react to, and are affected by, stigmatizing experiences in different ways. The current study examined different reactions to weight stigma to identify who may be vulnerable to lasting distress from these experiences. Using a mixed methods approach, this study compared qualitative descriptions of reactions to experiences of weight stigma in conjunction with quantitative measures of weight bias internalization (WBI) and other health indices. Data were collected from September 2017 to August 2018. Participants were U.S. adults enrolled in a commercial weight management program (n = 425, 96% female) who reported previous experiences of weight stigma (on quantitative measures), and who also qualitatively described feeling either no longer distressed (n = 178) or still distressed (n = 247) by those experiences. Qualitative analyses revealed that participants who were no longer distressed engaged in self-acceptance, were not concerned about other's evaluations of them, and prioritized health rather than appearance. Those who were still distressed from previous weight stigma experiences considered their body weight, and being stigmatized for it, as playing a prominent role in shaping their self-perception, they blamed themselves for experiencing the consequences of weight stigma, and ruminated on their memories of stigmatizing experiences. Hierarchical regressions demonstrated that participants who were still distressed reported greater WBI, greater perceived stress, and poorer mental health than participants who were no longer distressed. When adding WBI to the model predicting perceived stress, differences between participants who were no longer distressed versus still distressed attenuated and became statistically insignificant, suggesting that these qualitative reaction patterns to stigma may be related to participants' level of WBI. Given that some people may experience longer term distress from weight stigma than others, this study can inform interventions aimed to prevent or mitigate the negative consequences associated with being stigmatized.

Suggested Citation

  • Pudney, Ellen V. & Himmelstein, Mary S. & Puhl, Rebecca M. & Foster, Gary D., 2020. "Distressed or not distressed? A mixed methods examination of reactions to weight stigma and implications for emotional wellbeing and internalized weight bias," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:249:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300733
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620300733
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112854?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lewis, Sophie & Thomas, Samantha L. & Blood, R. Warwick & Castle, David J. & Hyde, Jim & Komesaroff, Paul A., 2011. "How do obese individuals perceive and respond to the different types of obesity stigma that they encounter in their daily lives? A qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(9), pages 1349-1356.
    2. Marrero, D.G. & Palmer, K.N.B. & Phillips, E.O. & Miller-Kovach, K. & Foster, G.D. & Saha, C.K., 2016. "Comparison of commercial and self-initiated weight loss programs in people with prediabetes: A randomized control trial," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(5), pages 949-956.
    3. Rice, Whitney S. & Logie, Carmen H. & Napoles, Tessa M. & Walcott, Melonie & Batchelder, Abigail W. & Kempf, Mirjam-Colette & Wingood, Gina M. & Konkle-Parker, Deborah J. & Turan, Bulent & Wilson, Tra, 2018. "Perceptions of intersectional stigma among diverse women living with HIV in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 9-17.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feng, Xiaoqi & Wilson, Andrew, 2022. "Association between community average body mass index and perception of overweight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    2. Lanthier, Stephanie & Mason, Robin & Logie, Carmen H. & Myers, Ted & Du Mont, Janice, 2023. "“Coming out of the closet about sexual assault”: Intersectional sexual assault stigma and (non) disclosure to formal support providers among survivors using Reddit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    3. Thomas, Samantha L. & Olds, Timothy & Pettigrew, Simone & Randle, Melanie & Lewis, Sophie, 2014. "“Don't eat that, you'll get fat!” Exploring how parents and children conceptualise and frame messages about the causes and consequences of obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 114-122.
    4. Medina-Perucha, Laura & Scott, Jenny & Chapman, Sarah & Barnett, Julie & Dack, Charlotte & Family, Hannah, 2019. "A qualitative study on intersectional stigma and sexual health among women on opioid substitution treatment in England: Implications for research, policy and practice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 315-322.
    5. Christy Brady, 2016. "Decreasing Obesity and Obesity Stigma: Socio-Demographic Differences in Beliefs about Causes of and Responsibility for Obesity," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-10, March.
    6. Testa, Alexander & Jackson, Dylan B. & Vaughn, Michael G. & Bello, Jennifer K., 2020. "Incarceration as a unique social stressor during pregnancy: Implications for maternal and newborn health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    7. Whittle, Henry J. & Leddy, Anna M. & Shieh, Jacqueline & Tien, Phyllis C. & Ofotokun, Ighovwerha & Adimora, Adaora A. & Turan, Janet M. & Frongillo, Edward A. & Turan, Bulent & Weiser, Sheri D., 2020. "Precarity and health: Theorizing the intersection of multiple material-need insecurities, stigma, and illness among women in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    8. Wu, Hania Fei, 2021. "Social determination, health selection or indirect selection? Examining the causal directions between socioeconomic status and obesity in the Chinese adult population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    9. Xin Pan & Maarten Loopmans, 2021. "Intersectional Heterotopia: HIV and LGBTQ+ Movement in China," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 112(2), pages 121-134, April.
    10. Logie, Carmen H. & Williams, Charmaine C. & Wang, Ying & Marcus, Natania & Kazemi, Mina & Cioppa, Lynne & Kaida, Angela & Webster, Kath & Beaver, Kerrigan & de Pokomandy, Alexandra & Loutfy, Mona, 2019. "Adapting stigma mechanism frameworks to explore complex pathways between intersectional stigma and HIV-related health outcomes among women living with HIV in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 129-138.
    11. Brittanie Lockard & Michelle Mardock & Jonathan M. Oliver & Mike Byrd & Sunday Simbo & Andrew R. Jagim & Julie Kresta & Claire C. Baetge & Yanghoon Peter Jung & Majid S. Koozehchian & Deepesh Khanna &, 2022. "Comparison of Two Diet and Exercise Approaches on Weight Loss and Health Outcomes in Obese Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-16, April.
    12. Matshabane, Olivia P. & Campbell, Megan M. & Faure, Marlyn C. & Appelbaum, Paul S. & Marshall, Patricia A. & Stein, Dan J. & de Vries, Jantina, 2021. "The role of causal knowledge in stigma considerations in African genomics research: Views of South African Xhosa people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    13. Abbamonte, J.M. & Ramlagan, S. & Lee, T.K. & Cristofari, N.V. & Weiss, S.M. & Peltzer, K. & Sifunda, S. & Jones, D.L., 2020. "Stigma interdependence among pregnant HIV-infected couples in a cluster randomized controlled trial from rural South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    14. Mooney, Stephen J. & El-Sayed, Abdulrahman M., 2016. "Stigma and the etiology of depression among the obese: An agent-based exploration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-7.
    15. Barlösius, Eva & Philipps, Axel, 2015. "Felt stigma and obesity: Introducing the generalized other," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 9-15.
    16. Quinn, Katherine & Bowleg, Lisa & Dickson-Gomez, Julia, 2019. "“The fear of being Black plus the fear of being gay”: The effects of intersectional stigma on PrEP use among young Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 86-93.
    17. Natalia Szablewska & Krzysztof Kubacki, 2019. "A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Social Good in Social Marketing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 871-888, March.
    18. Nichols, Bridget Satinover, 2015. "Construction and validation of the in-store privacy preference scale," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 70-78.
    19. Gaspar, Maria Clara de Moraes Prata & Sato, Priscila de Morais & Scagliusi, Fernanda Baeza, 2022. "Under the ‘weight’ of norms: Social representations of overweight and obesity among Brazilian, French and Spanish dietitians and laywomen," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    20. Denise Díaz de León & Omar Díaz Fragoso & Igor Rivera & Gibrán Rivera, 2021. "Cooperatives of Mexico: Their Social Benefits and Their Contribution to Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:249:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300733. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.