Overt and Subtle Discrimination, Subjective Well-Being and Physical Health-Related Quality Of Life in an Obese Sample

Abstract

Obesity represents a serious health issue affecting millions of people in Western industrialized countries. The severity of the medical problems it causes is paralleled by the fact that obesity has become a social stigma that affects the psychological health-related quality of life of individuals with weight problems. Our study, with 111 obese patients of a Spanish hospital, focused specifically on how overt and subtle discrimination is related to subjective well-being (affect balance and life satisfaction) and physical health-related quality of life. It was shown that overt (r = -.28, p < .01 with affect balance; r = -.26, p < .01 with life satisfaction) and subtle discrimination (r = -.28, p < .01 with affect balance; r = -.27, p < .01 with life satisfaction) were negatively linked with subjective well-being, and that there was a negative correlation between overt discrimination and physical health-related quality of life (r = -.26, p < .01). Additionally, it was found that overt discrimination was a mediator variable in the relationship between physical health-related quality of life and subjective well-being using the Baron and Kenny procedure. Finally, it is discussed the relationship between discrimination, subjective well-being and physical health-related quality of life in obese people.

Body Satisfaction, Weight Stigma, Positivity, and Happiness among Spanish Adults with Overweight and Obesity

“…Self-stigma was low-to-moderate in this sample, paralleling previous findings on perceived personal discrimination among Spanish individuals with obesity [10,11,22,23,47]. Women demonstrated higher weight-related self-stigma compared to men; as others have indicated, women are more affected by weight stigmatization [7] and group discrimination [23], yet this finding has not been previously found among Spanish individuals with obesity seeking or undergoing treatment for weight loss [10,11,23,47]. While others have not found an influence of BMI on stigma among individuals with excess weight [10,11,23], some research exists on the positive relationship between weight and weight self-stigma [47], and we found that participants with obesity showed marginally higher self-stigma compared to individuals with overweight.…”

“…Self-stigma was low-to-moderate in this sample, paralleling previous findings on perceived personal discrimination among Spanish individuals with obesity [10,11,22,23,47]. Women demonstrated higher weight-related self-stigma compared to men; as others have indicated, women are more affected by weight stigmatization [7] and group discrimination [23], yet this finding has not been previously found among Spanish individuals with obesity seeking or undergoing treatment for weight loss [10,11,23,47].…”

“…As a consequence of weight stigma, they also experience numerous and pervasive outcomes in terms of functioning, quality of life, and well-being [8,9], including unsuccessful efforts to manage excess weight, weight gain, and obesity maintenance. Nonetheless, weight-related stigma has been scarcely investigated among Spanish adults with excess weight (e.g., [10,11]).…”

“…Research on the impacts of the obesity epidemic is essential; nonetheless, one relatively neglected topic in the literature is the relationship of obesity with SWB [13]. There are only a few studies on the happiness of Spanish individuals with obesity [10,11,22,23]. However, many individuals with obesity are happy (e.g., [24,25]), and many more pursue the highest hedonic well-being and life satisfaction as possible.…”

Quality of Life and Physical Activity: Their Relationship with Physical and Psychological Well-Being

“…A covariation of both was found with those with high rates of psychological well-being reporting beter health-related quality of life compared to those who reported a moderate sense of psychological well-being [30]. It has been recently found that a person's subjective perception of their own well-being greatly inluences HRQL, suggesting that by increasing people's perceptions we can help them atain higher levels of health-related quality of life [31], as well as beter quality of life during childhood and adolescence [32].…”