Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
Ann Behav Med. 2023 Jun 30;57(7):571-581. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaad003.
People with obesity face significant discrimination due to their weight. Exposure to such discrimination is associated with poor health outcomes. Little is known about pathways that explain that association, and even less is known about those pathways in racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities. Health risk behaviors may serve as one such pathway.
We examined associations between weight discrimination and health risk behaviors and assessed whether associations are moderated by gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
Quota sampling was used to oversample Black (36%), Latino (36%), and sexual minority (29%) adults (n = 2,632) who completed an online survey. Using regression analysis, health risk behaviors (maladaptive eating behaviors, physical inactivity, sitting, smoking, alcohol use, and sleep disturbance) were predicted from previous experience with weight discrimination while controlling for demographic characteristics, BMI, and depressive symptoms. Additional analyses tested for interactions between weight discrimination and key demographic variables (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual minority status).
Weight discrimination was associated with greater emotional eating, binge eating, unhealthy weight control behaviors, cigarette smoking, problematic alcohol use, and sleep disturbance. Gender moderated the association between weight discrimination and binge eating, alcohol use, and physical activity, with stronger effects observed in men than women. Exploratory analyses provided limited evidence for differential effects of weight discrimination across specific combinations of intersecting identities.
Weight discrimination was associated with engagement in unhealthy behaviors and relationships were largely similar across diverse demographic groups. Health risk behaviors may represent a key pathway through which weight discrimination harms health.
肥胖人群因体重而面临严重歧视。接触此类歧视与健康状况不佳有关。人们对解释这种关联的途径知之甚少，对于少数族裔、种族和性少数群体中的这些途径更是知之甚少。健康风险行为可能就是这样一种途径。
我们研究了体重歧视与健康风险行为之间的关联，并评估了这些关联是否受到性别、种族、民族或性取向的调节。
配额抽样用于对 36%的黑人、36%的拉丁裔和 29%的性少数群体（n=2632）成年人进行过抽样，他们完成了一项在线调查。使用回归分析，在控制人口统计学特征、BMI 和抑郁症状的情况下，从之前经历的体重歧视预测健康风险行为（适应不良的饮食行为、身体活动不足、久坐、吸烟、饮酒和睡眠障碍）。额外的分析测试了体重歧视与关键人口统计学变量（即性别、种族、民族和性少数群体地位）之间的交互作用。
体重歧视与更多的情绪化进食、暴食、不健康的体重控制行为、吸烟、有问题的饮酒和睡眠障碍有关。性别调节了体重歧视与暴食、饮酒和身体活动之间的关联，男性的关联比女性更强。探索性分析提供的证据有限，无法证明体重歧视在特定的交叉身份组合中存在差异效应。
体重歧视与不健康行为有关，且这些关系在不同的人口统计学群体中基本相似。健康风险行为可能是体重歧视损害健康的一个关键途径。
