Enacted weight stigma and weight self stigma prevalence among 3821 adults

Weight stigma is associated with several negative health issues such as anxiety, depression, maladaptive eating, and metabolic and cardiovascular disease, independent of weight and problematic for individuals of all ages and body sizes. To reduce harmful effects of weight stigma, it is imperative we accurately capture the prevalence of weight stigma in the population to better understand the magnitude of the problem. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of both enacted weight stigma and weight-self stigma and include important contextual factors such as demographic characteristics and the belief about personal controllability of body weight.

This cross-sectional study included over 3800 adults who completed an online survey that captured their experiences with weight-based discrimination, teasing and beliefs about obesity. Using multivariate logistic regression, we predicted the odds of weight stigma across demographic characteristics and beliefs about obesity.

The prevalence of weight stigma in this sample was 57%. We found that the odds of weight discrimination and teasing are higher across BMI categories and that the odds of weight self-stigma are highest among those who are categorized as overweight or obese. Additionally, the odds of weight self-stigma are higher for those who believe individuals are personally responsible for body weight.

Our findings are comprehensive and offer new information crucial to our overall understanding of weight-based stigma and discrimination. Most people have weight stigma and it is prevalent in individuals of all body sizes. This study has significant implications for research and clinical practice.