A weight-centric health message elicits higher body shame in those at risk for eating disorders

Message content may have unanticipated and harmful effects on population subgroups. This study assessed the impact of a weight-centric health message on body shame in college women by eating disorder status and college major (health versus non-health). Three hundred female university students (age = 20.1 ± 1.9, BMI = 23.4 ± 3.9 kg/m², 78% White) were randomized to a 5-minute video communicating either a weight-centric health message or an intuitive eating message, then completed questionnaires to assess eating disorder risk and body shame. An ANOVA indicated a significant interaction between eating disorder risk and message type on body shame (F[1, 281] = 3.887, p = 0.05, partial eta²=0.014). There was a significant main effect for eating disorder risk status (F[1, 281] = 106.314, p < 0.001, partial eta²=0.276). Among those with high eating disorder risk (35.6%), those who viewed the weight-centric health video had higher body shame compared to those who viewed the intuitive eating video (F[1, 281] = 4.708, p = 0.03, partial eta²=0.017). The interaction between major (health vs non-health) and message group was not significant. Future research should investigate whether modifying weight-centric messages to include intuitive eating principles may better promote physical and mental health for vulnerable subgroups like college-aged women.