Stigmatizing effects of weight status on lay perceptions of eating disorder-related distress.

The present study examined how weight status would affect lay perceptions of a White female student presenting signs of eating disorder-related distress. We recruited a mixed-gender, weight-diverse U.S. community sample through Mechanical Turk (N = 130; 49.2% female) to complete an online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which they read a personal statement section of a college application revealing eating disorder-related distress from a student who was either 'overweight' or 'underweight.' Participants evaluated the student on need for support, behavioural prescriptions for eating and exercise, and personal qualities. Although participants recognized a serious mental health concern in both conditions, they were more likely to prescribe eating disorder behaviors to the higher weight student. Findings suggest that weight stigma may bias lay perceptions of and even reinforce an eating disorder when exhibited by higher weight individuals.

Intuitive eating is connected to self-reported weight stability in community women and men.

Professionals working in eating disorder prevention, treatment, and public health aim to improve eating behaviors to stabilize weight, which is more adaptive for health and well-being than weight variation. However, it is unknown which eating behaviors are linked to weight stability in non-intervention samples. This study examines how intuitive eating and eating restraint (flexible and rigid control) are linked to retrospective reports of weight stability (i.e., maintained weight) and instability (i.e., lost, gained, or cycled weight) during the past year. Community women (n = 192) and men (n = 190) completed online self-report measures of eating behaviors and weight patterns. Intuitive eating was linked to greater weight stability, whereas rigid and flexible control were linked to greater weight instability. Additional research is required to assess the directionality of these associations. Nevertheless, these findings provide preliminary support and clinical implications for the promotion of intuitive eating in prevention and public health contexts.

Perceptions of male partner pressure to be thin and pornography use: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology in a community sample of adult women.

OBJECTIVE: Partner-specific factors have been neglected in eating disorder (ED) research. The present study examined two partner-specific variables that were hypothesized to be linked to women's ED symptoms: perceived male partner thinness-related pressures and pornography use. METHOD: Community women (N = 409) in relationships with men completed online anonymous measures of ED symptomatology, perceptions of male partner thinness-related pressure and pornography use, and thin-ideal internalization. RESULTS: Partner thinness-related pressure was related to higher ED symptomatology, adjusting for age and thinness-related pressures from media, friends, and family. Current and previous partner pornography use were related to higher ED symptomatology, adjusting for age and women's reports of being bothered by this use. Partner thinness-related pressure and previous partner pornography use were associated with ED symptomatology both directly and through thin-ideal internalization, whereas current partner pornography use was directly associated with ED symptomatology. DISCUSSION: Perceptions of male partner thinness-related pressure and pornography use constitute unique factors associated with women's ED symptomatology that may operate indirectly by positioning women to endorse thinness as a personal standard and directly (e.g., by trying to accommodate their partner's appearance preferences). This study's findings provide initial support for pursuing subsequent investigations to test these partner variables as ED risk factors.

Internalized weight stigma moderates eating behavior outcomes in women with high BMI participating in a healthy living program.

Weight stigma is a significant socio-structural barrier to reducing health disparities and improving quality of life for higher weight individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of internalized weight stigma on eating behaviors after participating in a randomized controlled trial comparing the health benefits of a weight-neutral program to a conventional weight-management program for 80 community women with high body mass index (BMI > 30, age range: 30-45). Programs involved 6 months of facilitator-guided weekly group meetings using structured manuals. Assessments occurred at baseline, post-intervention (6 months), and 24-months post-randomization. Eating behavior outcome measurements included the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire and the Intuitive Eating Scale. Intention-to-treat linear mixed models were used to test for higher-order interactions between internalized weight stigma, group, and time. Findings revealed significant 3-way and 2-way interactions between internalized weight stigma, group, and time for disordered and adaptive eating behaviors, respectively. Only weight-neutral program participants with low internalized weight stigma improved global disordered eating scores. Participants from both programs with low internalized weight stigma improved adaptive eating at 6 months, but only weight-neutral program participants maintained changes at follow-up. Participants with high internalized weight stigma demonstrated no changes in disordered and adaptive eating, regardless of program. In order to enhance the overall benefit from weight-neutral approaches, these findings underscore the need to incorporate more innovative and direct methods to reduce internalized weight stigma for women with high BMI.

A weight-neutral versus weight-loss approach for health promotion in women with high BMI: A randomized-controlled trial.

Weight loss is the primary recommendation for health improvement in individuals with high body mass index (BMI) despite limited evidence of long-term success. Alternatives to weight-loss approaches (such as Health At Every Size - a weight-neutral approach) have been met with their own concerns and require further empirical testing. This study compared the effectiveness of a weight-neutral versus a weight-loss program for health promotion. Eighty women, aged 30-45 years, with high body mass index (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2)) were randomized to 6 months of facilitator-guided weekly group meetings using structured manuals that emphasized either a weight-loss or weight-neutral approach to health. Health measurements occurred at baseline, post-intervention, and 24-months post-randomization. Measurements included blood pressure, lipid panels, blood glucose, BMI, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, distress, self-esteem, quality of life, dietary risk, fruit and vegetable intake, intuitive eating, and physical activity. Intention-to-treat analyses were performed using linear mixed-effects models to examine group-by-time interaction effects and between and within-group differences. Group-by-time interactions were found for LDL cholesterol, intuitive eating, BMI, weight, and dietary risk. At post-intervention, the weight-neutral program had larger reductions in LDL cholesterol and greater improvements in intuitive eating; the weight-loss program had larger reductions in BMI, weight, and larger (albeit temporary) decreases in dietary risk. Significant positive changes were observed overall between baseline and 24-month follow-up for waist-to-hip ratio, total cholesterol, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, self-esteem, and quality of life. These findings highlight that numerous health benefits, even in the absence of weight loss, are achievable and sustainable in the long term using a weight-neutral approach. The trial positions weight-neutral programs as a viable health promotion alternative to weight-loss programs for women of high weight.

Is intuitive eating the same as flexible dietary control? Their links to each other and well-being could provide an answer.

Researchers have found that rigid dietary control is connected to higher psychological distress, including disordered and disinhibited eating. Two approaches have been touted by certain scholars and/or health organizations as healthier alternatives: intuitive eating and flexible control-yet these approaches have not been compared in terms of their shared variance with one another and psychological well-being (adjustment and distress). The present study explored these connections among 382 community women and men. Findings revealed that intuitive eating and flexible control are inversely related constructs. Intuitive eating was related to lower rigid control, lower psychological distress, higher psychological adjustment, and lower BMI. In contrast, flexible control was strongly related in a positive direction to rigid control, and was unrelated to distress, adjustment, and BMI. Further, intuitive eating incrementally contributed unique variance to the well-being measures after controlling for both flexible and rigid control. Flexible control was positively associated with psychological adjustment and inversely associated with distress and BMI only when its shared variance with rigid control was extracted. Collectively, these results suggest that intuitive eating is not the same phenomenon as flexible control, and that flexible control demonstrated substantial overlap and entanglement with rigid control, precluding the clarity, validity, and utility of flexible control as a construct. Discussion addresses the implications of this distinction between intuitive eating and flexible control for the promotion of healthy eating attitudes and behaviors.

Living while fat: Development and validation of the Fat Microaggressions Scale.

Fat microaggressions are microlevel social practices in the form of commonplace everyday indignities that insult fat people and have been documented anecdotally and qualitatively. However, no psychometrically validated scale exists for measuring fat microaggressions, despite decades of microaggression research demonstrating their negative health associations. This research describes the development and construct validation of the Fat Microaggressions Scale across four studies. Study 1 focused on item development through a systematic review, qualitative analysis of Tweets using #fatmicroaggressions, and a Delphi review. Study 2 (N = 343) determined that a four-factor structure was appropriate in an online community sample of fat adults. Study 3 (N = 410) confirmed the factor structure in a new online sample of fat adults and provided initial evidence of construct validity. Study 4 (N = 197) found evidence of test-retest reliability and demonstrated additional construct validity. Our findings offer a newly validated quantitative measure of fat microaggressions and an initial framework for naming and categorizing these experiences, which may be used to advance the study of fat microaggressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objects don't object: evidence that self-objectification disrupts women's social activism.

Integrating system-justification and objectification theories, the research reported here broadens the scope of prior work on women's self-objectification to examine its system-justifying function. I investigated the relation of trait and state self-objectification to support for the gender status quo and engagement in gender-based social activism among U.S. college women. Study 1 established that greater trait self-objectification was related to more gender-specific system justification and less engagement in gender-based social activism. The data supported a mediational model in which gender-specific system justification mediated the link between trait self-objectification and social activism. Results from Study 2, in which self-objectification was situationally activated, confirmed the same mediational model. These findings suggest that trait and state self-objectification may be part of a wider pattern of system-justifying behavior that maintains gender inequality and thwarts women's pursuit of social justice.

Effects of online self-compassionate writing on stigmatizing and affirming self-perceptions: Potential boundary conditions in undergraduate women.

This study investigated the effects of an online self-compassionate writing intervention on stigmatizing and affirming self-views toward the body in a sample of college women (N = 254). Participants were randomly assigned to a self-compassionate writing, attentional-control writing, or wait-list control condition for one week, and completed measures of self-compassion, affirming self-perceptions, and stigmatizing self-perceptions at baseline, one-week post intervention, and one-month post intervention. A series of mixed AN(C)OVAs revealed no significant effects by condition or time on stigmatizing or affirming self-views toward the body when controlling for self-esteem, internalized weight stigma, and eating disorder symptomatology. Follow-up exploratory analyses demonstrated no significant effects by condition on the six facets of self-compassion. Notably, participants were significantly more likely to drop out from the study over time if they were lower in self-compassion and self-esteem, and higher in internalized weight stigma at baseline. These results suggest that online self-compassion writing interventions may need to be longer and more potent, especially for women with more entrenched and stigmatized views about their bodies, as well as potential boundary conditions of cultivating self-compassion in a short-term online intervention.