Weight-based stigmatization, psychological distress, & binge eating behavior among obese treatment-seeking adults.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the associations between weight-based stigmatization, psychological distress, and binge eating behavior in a treatment-seeking obese sample.

METHODS

Ninety-three obese adults completed three questionnaires: 1) Stigmatizing Situations Inventory, 2) Brief Symptoms Inventory, and 3) Binge Eating Questionnaire. Correlational analyses were used to evaluate the association between stigmatizing experiences, psychological distress and binge eating behavior.

RESULTS

Stigmatizing experiences predicted both binge eating behavior (R(2)=.20, p<.001) and overall psychological distress (R(2)=.18, p<.001). A substantial amount of the variance in binge eating predicted by weight-based stigmatization was due to the effect of psychological distress. Specifically, of the 20% of the variance in binge eating accounted for by stigmatizing experiences, between 7% and 34% (p<.01) was due to the effects of various indicators of psychological distress.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that weight-based stigmatization predicts binge eating behavior and that psychological distress associated with stigmatizing experiences may be an important mediating factor.