Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Ann Behav Med. 2019 Mar 20;53(4):392-398. doi: 10.1093/abm/kay042.
Stigmatized people exhibit blunted cortisol responses to many stressors.
To examine the cortisol responses of individuals who are overweight to a stigma-related stressor involving interviewing for a weight-discriminatory company.
We recruited 170 men and women (mean age = 35.01) from towns located within about a 30-min drive of the study center. Weight was assessed using body mass index (BMI) and self-perceptions about being overweight. Participants were exposed to a laboratory stressor, modeled after the Trier Social Stress Test. In the stigmatizing condition, participants gave a supposedly videotaped speech about what makes them a good candidate for a job at a company that was described as having a weight-discriminatory health insurance benefit. Participants in the nonstigmatizing condition made a supposedly audiotaped speech for a company whose health insurance benefit was not described. Cortisol reactivity was then assessed.
Participants who rated themselves as overweight or who were overweight according to their BMI evidenced a blunted cortisol response in the weight-stigmatizing condition, whereas lean participants in the weight-stigmatizing condition showed the rise in cortisol levels that typically occurs following the Trier Social Stress Test.
People who experience the chronic stress of being stigmatized due to their weight show blunted cortisol responses just as other chronically stressed people do.
被污名化的人对许多压力源的皮质醇反应会迟钝。
研究超重个体对涉及到为一家存在体重歧视的公司进行面试的与污名相关的压力源的皮质醇反应。
我们从距离研究中心约 30 分钟车程的城镇招募了 170 名男性和女性（平均年龄=35.01）。体重使用身体质量指数（BMI）和超重自我认知进行评估。参与者暴露于实验室应激源中，该应激源模拟特里尔社会应激测试。在污名化条件下，参与者进行了一场据称是关于他们为何是一家被描述为具有体重歧视性健康保险福利的公司的理想人选的录像演讲。在非污名化条件下，参与者进行了一场据称是为一家健康保险福利未被描述的公司录制的演讲。然后评估皮质醇反应。
自我评估为超重或根据 BMI 超重的参与者在体重污名化条件下表现出皮质醇反应迟钝，而在体重污名化条件下的瘦参与者则表现出通常在特里尔社会应激测试后皮质醇水平升高的情况。
由于体重而经历慢性污名化压力的人表现出与其他慢性压力人群一样的皮质醇反应迟钝。
