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Weight stigma, welfare stigma, and political values: Evidence from a representative British survey.
- Source :
-
Social Science & Medicine . Oct2023, Vol. 334, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. - Publication Year :
- 2023
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Abstract
- Obesity-related stigma is increasingly recognised as a public health issue, with serious implications for mental and physical health. However, very little is known about what drives inter-individual differences in obesity-stigmatizing views, and how they are distributed in the population. If views about obesity are not independent of a person's wider beliefs and values, this must be understood so that obesity stigma can be effectively tackled. In a representative sample of British adults aged 18–97 (N = 2186), we explore predictors of weight-stigmatizing attitudes. We consider demographics, socioeconomic position, factors related to one's own weight and health, and beliefs about the causes and consequences of obesity. We explore the role of core political values which predict views about other stigmatized groups, and views about welfare recipients, who are frequently linked with obesity in public and political discourse. Finally, we assess to what extent demographic differences in weight-stigmatizing attitudes are explained by individual body mass index (BMI), attitudes, and beliefs. Consistent with previous studies, women were less weight-stigmatizing than men. People in late middle-age were less weight-stigmatizing than younger or older adults. Adjusted for age and gender, an index of weight-stigmatizing views was positively associated with income, and highest in intermediate categories of education and occupational social class. Weight-stigmatizing attitudes were associated with more right-wing values, more authoritarian values, and more stigmatizing views about welfare recipients. Factors including own BMI, beliefs about causes of obesity, welfare-stigmatizing attitudes and authoritarian values contributed to socioeconomic differences. Weight-stigmatizing attitudes show clear differences between demographic groups, but also vary according to wider social attitudes, beliefs, and a person's core political values. Efforts to reduce weight stigma, and other kinds of stigma, may be more effective if they recognise these links. • We explored weight-stigmatizing attitudes in a large, representative British sample • Women and middle-aged people were less weight-stigmatizing than other groups • Socioeconomic position was positively and nonlinearly related to weight stigma • Views about welfare recipients strongly predicted weight stigma • Political values, especially authoritarian values, strongly predicted weight stigma [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02779536
- Volume :
- 334
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 171954907
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116172