The Adverse Effect of Weight Stigma on the Well-Being of Medical Students with Overweight or Obesity: Findings from a National Survey.
J Gen Intern Med
; 30(9): 1251-8, 2015 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26173517
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The stigma of obesity is a common and overt social bias. Negative attitudes and derogatory humor about overweight/obese individuals are commonplace among health care providers and medical students. As such, medical school may be particularly threatening for students who are overweight or obese.OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of our study was to assess the frequency that obese/overweight students report being stigmatized, the degree to which stigma is internalized, and the impact of these factors on their well-being.DESIGN:
We performed cross-sectional analysis of data from the Medical Student Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study (CHANGES) survey.PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 4,687 first-year medical students (1,146 overweight/obese) from a stratified random sample of 49 medical schools participated in the study. MAINMEASURES:
Implicit and explicit self-stigma were measured with the Implicit Association Test and Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire. Overall health, anxiety, depression, fatigue, self-esteem, sense of mastery, social support, loneliness, and use of alcohol/drugs to cope with stress were measured using previously validated scales. KEYRESULTS:
Among obese and overweight students, perceived stigma was associated with each measured component of well-being, including anxiety (beta coefficient [b] = 0.18; standard error [SE] = 0.03; p < 0.001) and depression (b = 0.20; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001). Among the subscales of the explicit self-stigma measure, dislike of obese people was associated with several factors, including depression (b = 0.07; SE = .01; p < 0.001), a lower sense of mastery (b = -0.10; SE = 0.02; p < 0.001), and greater likelihood of using drugs or alcohol to cope with stress (b = .05; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001). Fear of becoming fat was associated with each measured component of well-being, including lower body esteem (b = -0.25; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001) and less social support (b = -0.06; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001). Implicit self-stigma was not consistently associated with well-being factors. Compared to normal-weight/underweight peers, overweight/obese medical students had worse overall health (b = -0.33; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001) and body esteem (b = -0.70; SE = 0.02; p < 0.001), and overweight/obese female students reported less social support (b = -0.12; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001) and more loneliness (b = 0.22; SE = 0.04; p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:
Perceived and internalized weight stigma may contribute to worse well-being among overweight/obese medical students.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Self Concept
/
Students, Medical
/
Overweight
/
Social Stigma
/
Obesity
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
J Gen Intern Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA INTERNA
Year:
2015
Type:
Article