Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284-2018, USA.
Int J Eat Disord. 2011 May;44(4):369-75. doi: 10.1002/eat.20824.
Eating disorders (EDs) are highly stigmatized conditions. This study explored factors hypothesized to influence this stigmatization including ethnicity, gender, ED subtype, and proposed etiology.
Undergraduates (N = 235) read scenarios depicting fictional characters varying on ethnicity, gender ED subtype, and etiology. Participants reported perceptions of each character, and completed the EAT-26 and the Level-of-Contact scale.
Characters with BN were viewed as more responsible for their ED and more self-destructive than those with AN, who were viewed as more self-controlled. Characters with a sociocultural etiology were rated as most likely to recover. Characters with a biological etiology were viewed as more likeable than characters with an ambiguous etiology. Characters in the ambiguous group were viewed as more self-destructive, more responsible for their ED, and less self-controlled. Differences in participants' perceptions of the characters also emerged when examining ethnicity and gender. Finally, participants' own ED symptoms and their level of contact with EDs were associated with viewing characters as more similar and self-controlled.
Findings highlight the need for increased education about ED etiology and course.
饮食失调（ED）是一种高度污名化的疾病。本研究探讨了影响这种污名化的因素，包括种族、性别、ED 亚型和提出的病因。
大学生（N=235）阅读了不同种族、性别、ED 亚型和病因的虚构人物的情景描述。参与者报告了对每个角色的看法，并完成了 EAT-26 和接触水平量表。
与 AN 相比，患有 BN 的角色被认为对自己的 ED 更有责任感，也更具自我毁灭性，而 AN 则被认为更具自我控制能力。具有社会文化病因的角色被认为最有可能康复。具有生物学病因的角色比具有模糊病因的角色更讨人喜欢。具有模糊病因的角色被认为更具自我毁灭性、对 ED 更有责任感、自我控制能力更差。当检查种族和性别时，参与者对角色的看法也存在差异。最后，参与者自身的 ED 症状和与 ED 的接触程度与将角色视为更相似和自我控制有关。
研究结果强调了需要增加对 ED 病因和病程的教育。
