Department of Psychology, Trinity University, United States.
Department of Political Science, Howard University, United States.
Body Image. 2021 Jun;37:238-245. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.006. Epub 2021 Mar 23.
Internalized weight stigma (IWS) is associated with various health concerns, regardless of body size. One weakness of existing IWS research is that it largely lacks diverse study populations. One recent exception, however, found increasing IWS was associated with higher levels of food insecurity (FI) in a low-income, majority Latinx sample. Using the same sample (N = 530), the present study further explored levels of IWS as compared to documented (mostly White/European) samples; we also investigated IWS in relation to three dichotomous eating disorder (ED) outcomes (e.g., any/no vomiting). Finally, based on previous qualitative findings regarding dietary restraint in the most severe level of FI, we explored the independent contribution of dietary restraint and IWS to cross-sectional risk of ED pathology. Results indicated that individuals living with FI experience IWS at concerning levels. Additionally, IWS played a small yet significant role in cross-sectional risk for ED pathology regardless of FI severity, while dietary restraint contributed to independent risk only in those with the most severe FI. Findings suggest that IWS is prevalent in this marginalized population, associated with ED pathology, and that the effect of dietary restraint on risk for ED pathology appears to uniquely impact those living with severe FI.
内化的体重耻辱感（IWS）与各种健康问题有关，而与体型无关。现有 IWS 研究的一个弱点是，它在很大程度上缺乏多样化的研究人群。然而，最近的一项例外研究发现，在一个低收入、以拉丁裔为主的样本中，IWS 的增加与更高水平的食物不安全（FI）有关。本研究使用相同的样本（N=530），进一步探讨了与已记录的（主要是白人/欧洲人）样本相比的 IWS 水平；我们还研究了 IWS 与三种二分法饮食失调（ED）结果（例如，有无呕吐）的关系。最后，根据之前关于 FI 最严重程度下饮食限制的定性发现，我们探讨了饮食限制和 IWS 对 ED 病理横断面风险的独立贡献。结果表明，生活在 FI 中的个体经历了令人担忧的 IWS 水平。此外，无论 FI 的严重程度如何，IWS 在 ED 病理的横断面风险中都起着微小但显著的作用，而饮食限制仅对 FI 最严重的个体有独立的风险。研究结果表明，IWS 在这个边缘化群体中很普遍，与 ED 病理有关，而且饮食限制对 ED 病理风险的影响似乎只对那些生活在严重 FI 中的个体有影响。
