Obese Children, Adults and Senior Citizens in the Eyes of the General Public: Results of a Representative Study on Stigma and Causation of Obesity

Abstract

Obese individuals are blamed for their excess weight based on causal attribution to the individual. It is unclear whether obese individuals of different age groups and gender are faced with the same amount of stigmatization. This information is important in order to identify groups of individuals at risk for higher stigmatization and discrimination. A telephone interview was conducted in a representative sample of 3,003 participants. Experimental manipulation was realized by vignettes describing obese and normal-weight children, adults and senior citizens. Stigmatizing attitudes were measured by semantic differential. Causal attribution was assessed. Internal factors were rated with highest agreement rates as a cause for the vignette's obesity. Lack of activity behavior and eating too much are the most supported causes. Importance of causes differed for the different vignettes. For the child, external causes were considered more important. The overweight vignette was rated consistently more negatively. Higher educational attainment and personal obesity were associated with lower stigmatizing attitudes. The vignette of the obese child was rated more negatively compared to that of an adult or senior citizen. Obesity is seen as a controllable condition, but for children external factors are seen as well. Despite this finding, they are faced with higher stigmatizing attitudes in the general public, contradicting attribution theory assumptions. Internal and external attribution were found to be inter-correlated. Obese children are the population most at risk for being confronted with stigmatization, making them a target point in stigma-reduction campaigns.

Stigma in People With Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes

“…Health-related stigma is a psychological factor known to influence the lives of people with chronic medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS (4–7), epilepsy (8–10), and obesity (11–14). Stigma is defined as a characteristic of a person that differs negatively from culturally defined norms, and stigmatization occurs when there is perception of a stigma that results in a punitive response.…”

The Effect of Effort and Weight Controllability on Perceptions of Obese Individuals

“…Although these interventions succeed at changing people's beliefs about the controllability of obesity, they typically fail to have an impact on people's attitudes and stereotypes toward the target individuals Teachman et al, 2003). This shortcoming may stem from the fact that these interventions focus primarily on onset controllability and exclude information about offset controllability or effort (Danielsdottir et al, 2010;Sikorski et al, 2012). Thus, three elements that could form part of intervention efforts aimed at reducing anti-fat bias include educating the general public about the fact that (a) many overweight and obese individuals are actively trying to lose weight, (b) weight-loss efforts through lifestyle changes are not always successful, and (c) eating healthily and exercising regularly have important benefits regardless of their impact on one's weight.…”

Stress habituation, body shape and cardiovascular mortality

“…It should not be forgotten that people with high body mass also suffer from weight stigmatization that is quite common in our society (Puhl and Heuer, 2009;Sikorski et al, 2012). But, on the other hand, habituators are unlikely to build up visceral fat depots, because their cortisol concentrations are rather low (Epel et al, 2000;Steptoe and Wardle, 2005;Goldbacher et al, 2005).…”