Gullo Nathalie, Brand Olivia, Harrop Erin, Walker D Catherine
Washington University, St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
Department of Psychology, Union College, 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY, 12308, USA.
Eat Weight Disord. 2025 Apr 30;30(1):39. doi: 10.1007/s40519-025-01748-x.
This study examined how weight and race impact mental health stigma, weight stigma, perceived need for treatment, and perceived severity of anorexia nervosa We experimentally manipulated weight and race, replicating and extending Varnado-Sullivan et al. (Eat Weight Disord 25:601-608, 2020).
336 participants were recruited from Prolific. Participants self-reported pre-existing exposure to and attitudes regarding mental illness. Participants were randomly assigned to read an anorexia nervosa vignette that manipulated race (White or Black) and weight ("underweight" or "obese"). Participants self-reported attitudes about the woman in the vignette (mental health stigma), weight stigma, and perceived need for treatment and severity of the condition (mental health literacy). We hypothesized that greater mental health stigma, weight stigma, and lower mental health literacy would be present for Black and higher-weight vignettes, controlling for covariates.
Analyses found that only vignette weight significantly predicted mental health stigma, mental health literacy, and weight stigma; vignette race did not significantly predict mental health stigma, mental health literacy, or weight stigma. A significant Race x Weight interaction predicted weight stigma and two mental health stigma items.
Replicating and extending Varnado-Sullivan et al. (Varnado-Sullivan et al. in Eat Weight Disord 25:601-608, 2020), we found weight-based bias for those with eating disorders, with some interactions between weight and race on weight stigma.
本研究探讨体重和种族如何影响心理健康污名、体重污名、感知到的治疗需求以及神经性厌食症的感知严重程度。我们通过实验操纵体重和种族，重复并扩展了瓦尔纳多 - 沙利文等人（《饮食与体重失调》25:601 - 608，2020年）的研究。
从Prolific招募了336名参与者。参与者自我报告了既往对精神疾病的接触情况和态度。参与者被随机分配阅读一篇神经性厌食症的短文，其中操纵了种族（白人或黑人）和体重（“体重过轻”或“肥胖”）。参与者自我报告对短文中女性的态度（心理健康污名）、体重污名以及感知到的治疗需求和病情严重程度（心理健康素养）。我们假设，在控制协变量的情况下，黑人及体重较高的短文中会存在更大的心理健康污名、体重污名以及更低的心理健康素养。
分析发现，只有短文体重显著预测了心理健康污名、心理健康素养和体重污名；短文种族并未显著预测心理健康污名、心理健康素养或体重污名。显著的种族×体重交互作用预测了体重污名和两项心理健康污名指标。
重复并扩展瓦尔纳多 - 沙利文等人（瓦尔纳多 - 沙利文等人，《饮食与体重失调》25:601 - 608，2020年）的研究，我们发现饮食失调患者存在基于体重的偏见，体重和种族在体重污名方面存在一些交互作用。
