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A qualitative analysis of people's experiences with weight-based discrimination.
- Source :
- Psychology & Health; Sep2022, Vol. 37 Issue 9, p1093-1110, 18p, 2 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- The aim of this study was to describe people's day-to-day experiences with weight-based discrimination and to distill themes that shed new light on this phenomenon. A qualitative study was conducted in 2019 using a purposive sampling strategy. A racially and ethnically diverse sample of 32 U.S. adult men and women with a body mass index ≥30 kg/m<superscript>2</superscript> completed a semi-structured interview. Primary types of interpersonal weight-based discrimination included offensive comments, negative assumptions, social rejection, and unwanted attention or bullying. Participants also encountered environmental sources of weight bias such as inadequate seating in public venues. Three higher order themes that cut across people's experiences with weight-based discrimination were identified: 1) the often-ambiguous nature of weight-based discrimination; 2) intersections between body weight and other social identities; and 3) the role of social comparison processes. Findings provide a detailed portrait of people's everyday experiences with weight-based discrimination. These experiences often reflected widely held negative stereotypes about people with higher body weight and conveyed the socially devalued status of higher-weight individuals in society. Findings have important implications for future research and interventions aimed at reducing the harmful effects of weight-based discrimination on health and emotional wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- WELL-being
BODY weight
DISCRIMINATION (Sociology)
RESEARCH methodology
ATTITUDE (Psychology)
SELF-perception
RACE
INTERVIEWING
VIOLENCE
LANGUAGE & languages
GROUP identity
EXPERIENCE
QUALITATIVE research
BEHAVIOR disorders
SOCIAL context
SOCIAL status
ATTENTION
PUBLIC spaces
ACCESSIBLE design of public spaces
JUDGMENT sampling
ETHNIC groups
EMOTIONS
PUBLIC opinion
BULLYING
BODY image
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 08870446
- Volume :
- 37
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Psychology & Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 158478360
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2021.1921179