TY - JOUR
T1 - The psychological burden of baby weight
T2 - Pregnancy, weight stigma, and maternal health
AU - Incollingo Rodriguez, Angela C.
AU - Dunkel Schetter, Christine
AU - Brewis, Alexandra
AU - Tomiyama, A. Janet
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1650604. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the tremendous efforts of Megan L. White in planning and executing this study. They also thank the many expectant and new mothers who shared their experiences and feelings for this research.
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1650604 . Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - Weight stigma is increasingly prevalent, highly distressing, and associated with an array of negative health and psychological outcomes. Many of the known correlates - depression, stress, and weight gain - have the potential to be particularly harmful in the context of pregnancy and the postpartum, a life phase in which women's social roles, body weights, and body meanings are in particular flux. Yet, there is little literature connecting the experiences of weight stigma to the wellbeing of pregnant and postpartum women. 501 pregnant (n = 143) and postpartum (n = 358) women in the United States were surveyed between August and November of 2017. They answered questions about their experiences with weight stigma and standardized scale measures of depressive symptoms, perceived stress, maladaptive dieting behavior, emotional eating behavior, gestational weight gain, and postpartum weight retention. Regression analyses revealed that women experiencing weight stigma from more sources reported more depressive symptoms, maladaptive dieting behavior and perceived stress when controlling for pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, weeks of pregnancy or months since birth, and demographic covariates. Weight-stigmatizing experiences were also associated with more emotional eating behavior in pregnant participants and greater postpartum weight retention in postpartum participants. This preliminary study suggests that experiencing weight stigma may contribute to unfavorable physical and mental health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women. These findings reflect the powerful negative social meanings of weight gain faced in pregnancy and often unachievable social standards of “dropping the baby weight” as new mothers.
AB - Weight stigma is increasingly prevalent, highly distressing, and associated with an array of negative health and psychological outcomes. Many of the known correlates - depression, stress, and weight gain - have the potential to be particularly harmful in the context of pregnancy and the postpartum, a life phase in which women's social roles, body weights, and body meanings are in particular flux. Yet, there is little literature connecting the experiences of weight stigma to the wellbeing of pregnant and postpartum women. 501 pregnant (n = 143) and postpartum (n = 358) women in the United States were surveyed between August and November of 2017. They answered questions about their experiences with weight stigma and standardized scale measures of depressive symptoms, perceived stress, maladaptive dieting behavior, emotional eating behavior, gestational weight gain, and postpartum weight retention. Regression analyses revealed that women experiencing weight stigma from more sources reported more depressive symptoms, maladaptive dieting behavior and perceived stress when controlling for pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, weeks of pregnancy or months since birth, and demographic covariates. Weight-stigmatizing experiences were also associated with more emotional eating behavior in pregnant participants and greater postpartum weight retention in postpartum participants. This preliminary study suggests that experiencing weight stigma may contribute to unfavorable physical and mental health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women. These findings reflect the powerful negative social meanings of weight gain faced in pregnancy and often unachievable social standards of “dropping the baby weight” as new mothers.
KW - Depression
KW - Eating
KW - Motherhood
KW - Postpartum
KW - Pregnancy
KW - Stress
KW - Weight stigma
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112401
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112401
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068904447
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 235
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 112401
ER -