IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v385y2025ics0277953625009670.html

Fat shame does not promote health: Attempting weight loss because of weight-based teasing is associated with elevated blood pressure, inflammation, and skipping meals among U.S. youth

Author

Listed:
  • Cullin, Jennifer M.
  • White, Kurt E.

Abstract

Some argue fat shame improves health by motivating weight loss efforts; however, fat stigma has been linked to worsened cardiovascular health, inflammation, and higher allostatic load (AL) in adults. This may be driven by physiological and behavioral responses to fat stigma. Less is known about how weight-based teasing (WBT) is linked to AL, cardiometabolic health, and inflammation in youth. We assessed WBT as a motivation, weight loss strategies, and biomarkers in youth attempting weight loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Cullin, Jennifer M. & White, Kurt E., 2025. "Fat shame does not promote health: Attempting weight loss because of weight-based teasing is associated with elevated blood pressure, inflammation, and skipping meals among U.S. youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 385(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:385:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625009670
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625009670
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118636?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fildes, A. & Charlton, J. & Rudisill, C. & Littlejohns, P. & Prevost, A.T. & Gulliford, M.C., 2015. "Probability of an obese person attaining normal body weight: Cohort study using electronic health records," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(9), pages 54-59.
    2. Johnson, Sarah C. & Cavallaro, Francesca L. & Leon, David A., 2017. "A systematic review of allostatic load in relation to socioeconomic position: Poor fidelity and major inconsistencies in biomarkers employed," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 66-73.
    3. Bayer, Ronald, 2008. "Stigma and the ethics of public health: Not can we but should we," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 463-472, August.
    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. Brad Humphreys & Jane Ruseski & Li Zhou, 2015. "Physical Activity, Present Bias, and Habit Formation: Theory and Evidence from Longitudinal Data," Working Papers 2015-06, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    2. Ovrum, Arnstein & Gustavsen, Geir Waehler & Rickertsen, Kyrre, 2012. "Health inequalities over the adult life course: the role of lifestyle choices," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 125862, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Stine Glenstrup & Lotus Sofie Bast & Dina Danielsen & Anette Andersen & Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, 2021. "Places to Smoke: Exploring Smoking-Related Practices among Danish Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    4. Shawna Beese & Julie Postma & Janessa M. Graves, 2022. "Allostatic Load Measurement: A Systematic Review of Reviews, Database Inventory, and Considerations for Neighborhood Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Carpiano, Richard M. & Fitz, Nicholas S., 2017. "Public attitudes toward child undervaccination: A randomized experiment on evaluations, stigmatizing orientations, and support for policies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 127-136.
    6. Nisha C. Hazra & Caroline Rudisill & Martin C. Gulliford, 2019. "Developing the role of electronic health records in economic evaluation," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(8), pages 1117-1121, November.
    7. Ae-Kyung Chang & Sun-Hui Kim, 2022. "Predictors of Weight-Control Behavior in Healthy Weight and Overweight Korean Middle-Aged Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-11, June.
    8. Kelly, Brian C. & Vuolo, Mike & Frizzell, Laura C. & Hernandez, Elaine M., 2018. "Denormalization, smoke-free air policy, and tobacco use among young adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 70-77.
    9. Cleo Valentine, 2023. "Architectural Allostatic Overloading: Exploring a Connection between Architectural Form and Allostatic Overloading," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-14, April.
    10. Grace Lewis & Neneh Rowa-Dewar & Rachel O’Donnell, 2020. "Stigma and Smoking in the Home: Parents’ Accounts of Using Nicotine Replacement Therapy to Protect Their Children from Second-Hand Smoke," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    12. Tara Kelly & David Unwin & Francis Finucane, 2020. "Low-Carbohydrate Diets in the Management of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: A Review from Clinicians Using the Approach in Practice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, April.
    13. Ingrid W Leal Bezerra & António Gouveia Oliveira & Liana G B Pinheiro & Célia M M Morais & Luciano M B Sampaio, 2017. "Evaluation of the nutritional status of workers of transformation industries adherent to the Brazilian Workers’ Food Program. A comparative study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-11, February.
    14. Atkins, Rose & Turner, Alex James & Chandola, Tarani & Sutton, Matt, 2020. "Going beyond the mean in examining relationships of adolescent non-cognitive skills with health-related quality of life and biomarkers in later-life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    15. Cruwys, Tegan & Selwyn, Joseph & Rathbone, Joanne A. & Frings, Daniel, 2024. "Discrimination and social identity processes predict impairment and dysfunction among heavy drinkers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    16. repec:plo:pone00:0109429 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Matthew A. Cottam & Heather L. Caslin & Nathan C. Winn & Alyssa H. Hasty, 2022. "Multiomics reveals persistence of obesity-associated immune cell phenotypes in adipose tissue during weight loss and weight regain in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    18. Lucy Prior, 2021. "Allostatic Load and Exposure Histories of Disadvantage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-17, July.
    19. Julia Carins & Sharyn Rundle-Thiele & Rimante Ronto, 2020. "Impact of Dining Hall Structural Changes on Food Choices: A Pre-Post Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, February.
    20. Arielle R. Deutsch & Rebecca Lustfield & Mohammad S. Jalali, 2022. "Community‐based system dynamics modelling of stigmatized public health issues: Increasing diverse representation of individuals with personal experiences," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 734-749, July.
    21. Shaon Lahiri & Jeffrey B. Bingenheimer & William Douglas Evans & Yan Wang & Priyanka Dubey & Bobbi Snowden, 2021. "Social Norms Change and Tobacco Use: A Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-14, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:385:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625009670. 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.