Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2015 Feb;23(2):368-74. doi: 10.1002/oby.20959. Epub 2014 Dec 17.
Rates of weight-based stigmatization have steadily increased over the past decade. The psychological and physiological consequences of weight stigma remain understudied.
This study examined the effects of experimentally manipulated weight stigma on the stress-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in 110 female undergraduate participants (BMI: M=19.30, SD=1.55). Objective BMI and self-perceived body weight were examined as moderators of the relationship between stigma and HPA reactivity.
Results indicated participants' perceptions of their own body weight (but not objective BMI) moderated the effect of weight stigma on cortisol reactivity: F(1,102)=13.48, P<0.001, η(2) p =0.12 (interaction 95% CI range [-2.06 to -1.44, -1.31 to -0.99]). Specifically, participants who perceived themselves as heavy exhibited sustained cortisol elevation post-manipulation compared with individuals who did not experience the weight-related stigma. Cortisol change did not vary by condition for participants who perceived themselves as average weight.
In the first study to examine physiological consequences of active interpersonal exposure to weight stigma, experiencing weight stigma was stressful for participants who perceived themselves as heavy, regardless of their BMI. These results are important because stress and cortisol are linked to deleterious health outcomes, stimulate eating, and contribute to abdominal adiposity.
过去十年间，基于体重的歧视率稳步上升。体重歧视的心理和生理后果仍研究不足。
本研究通过 110 名女性大学生参与者（BMI：M=19.30，SD=1.55），检验了实验性人为体重歧视对压力反应性下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴（HPA）的影响。客观 BMI 和自我感知体重被作为歧视和 HPA 反应之间关系的调节因素进行了检验。
结果表明，参与者对自身体重的感知（而非客观 BMI）调节了体重歧视对皮质醇反应的影响：F(1,102)=13.48，P<0.001，η(2) p=0.12（交互 95%CI 范围为[-2.06 至-1.44，-1.31 至-0.99]）。具体而言，与未经历与体重相关的歧视的个体相比，自我感知为肥胖的参与者在操作后表现出持续的皮质醇升高。对于自我感知为平均体重的参与者，皮质醇变化不因条件而异。
在首次研究主动人际间暴露于体重歧视的生理后果的研究中，无论 BMI 如何，自我感知为肥胖的参与者经历体重歧视是有压力的。这些结果很重要，因为压力和皮质醇与不良健康结果有关，会刺激进食，并导致腹部肥胖。
