Launius Kellsey N, Lydecker Janet A
Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Stigma Health. 2024 Mar 21. doi: 10.1037/sah0000527.
Discrimination is pervasive and harms physical and psychological well-being. Understanding associations between reasons for discrimination and consequences could provide insight for harm-reduction efforts, including identifying vulnerable youth. Unlike other types of discrimination, some people unfortunately consider weight-based discrimination "socially acceptable" because of the misperception that higher body weight is caused by low self-control and motivation. The present study examined reasons for discrimination, including weight-based discrimination in childhood and adulthood, and associations with mental and physical health.
Adults (N=397) reported perceived reasons for discrimination and experiences of childhood bullying related to weight, as well as current physical and mental health. Analyses of variance tested whether perceived reasons for discrimination, both independent and intersectional, were related to health.
Weight-based discrimination was most frequently reported, followed by gender-, physical appearance-, race/ethnicity-, and age-based discrimination. Weight- and race/ethnicity-based discrimination were associated with greater frequency of discrimination experiences. Weight as a main reason for discrimination was associated with more weight self-stigma and internalized bias, and weight as a contributing reason was additionally associated with eating-disorder psychopathology, depression, and poor current health. Over half of participants had a history of childhood weight-based bullying, which was related to poor current health, eating-disorder psychopathology, weight self-stigma, perceived stress, and depression. Intersectional discrimination did not contribute to worse consequences than those from weight-based discrimination alone.
Weight-based discrimination during childhood or adulthood appears to have negative health consequences. Further research on strategies to mitigate the harms of weight-related discrimination is a crucial next step to protect vulnerable populations.
歧视普遍存在，会损害身心健康。了解歧视原因与后果之间的关联可为减少伤害的努力提供见解，包括识别易受伤害的青少年。与其他类型的歧视不同，不幸的是，有些人认为基于体重的歧视“在社会上是可以接受的”，因为他们错误地认为较高的体重是由低自控力和动机导致的。本研究考察了歧视的原因，包括儿童期和成年期基于体重的歧视，以及与身心健康的关联。
397名成年人报告了他们感知到的歧视原因、与体重相关的童年欺凌经历以及当前的身心健康状况。方差分析检验了独立和交叉的感知歧视原因是否与健康有关。
最常被报告的是基于体重的歧视，其次是基于性别、外貌、种族/民族和年龄的歧视。基于体重和种族/民族的歧视与更高频率的歧视经历相关。体重作为歧视的主要原因与更多的体重自我污名化和内化偏见相关，体重作为促成因素还与饮食失调心理病理学、抑郁和当前健康状况不佳相关。超过一半的参与者有童年期基于体重的欺凌史，这与当前健康状况不佳、饮食失调心理病理学、体重自我污名化、感知压力和抑郁有关。交叉歧视并没有比仅基于体重的歧视导致更严重的后果。
童年期或成年期基于体重的歧视似乎会对健康产生负面影响。下一步至关重要的是进一步研究减轻与体重相关歧视危害的策略，以保护弱势群体。
