TY - JOUR
T1 - Weight-related stigma is a significant psychosocial stressor in developing countries
T2 - Evidence from Guatemala
AU - Hackman, Joseph
AU - Maupin, Jonathan
AU - Slade, Alexandra
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by the Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust through the Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University Obesity Solutions initiative.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - Weight-related stigma is established as a major psychosocial stressor and correlate of depression among people living with obesity in high-income countries. Anti-fat beliefs are rapidly globalizing. The goal of the study is to (1) examine how weight-related stigma, enacted as teasing, is evident among women from a lower-income country and (2) test if such weight-related stigma contributes to depressive symptoms. Modeling data for 12,074 reproductive-age women collected in the 2008-2009 Guatemala National Maternal-Infant Health Survey, we demonstrate that weight-related teasing is (1) experienced by those both underweight and overweight, and (2) a significant psychosocial stressor. Effects are comparable to other factors known to influence women's depressive risk in lower-income countries, such as living in poverty, experiencing food insecurity, or suffering sexual/domestic violence. That women's failure to meet local body norms-whether they are overweight or underweight-serves as such a strong source of psychological distress is particularly concerning in settings like Guatemala where high levels of over- and under-nutrition intersect at the household and community level. Current obesity-centric models of weight-related stigma, developed from studies in high-income countries, fail to recognize that being underweight may create similar forms of psychosocial distress in low-income countries.
AB - Weight-related stigma is established as a major psychosocial stressor and correlate of depression among people living with obesity in high-income countries. Anti-fat beliefs are rapidly globalizing. The goal of the study is to (1) examine how weight-related stigma, enacted as teasing, is evident among women from a lower-income country and (2) test if such weight-related stigma contributes to depressive symptoms. Modeling data for 12,074 reproductive-age women collected in the 2008-2009 Guatemala National Maternal-Infant Health Survey, we demonstrate that weight-related teasing is (1) experienced by those both underweight and overweight, and (2) a significant psychosocial stressor. Effects are comparable to other factors known to influence women's depressive risk in lower-income countries, such as living in poverty, experiencing food insecurity, or suffering sexual/domestic violence. That women's failure to meet local body norms-whether they are overweight or underweight-serves as such a strong source of psychological distress is particularly concerning in settings like Guatemala where high levels of over- and under-nutrition intersect at the household and community level. Current obesity-centric models of weight-related stigma, developed from studies in high-income countries, fail to recognize that being underweight may create similar forms of psychosocial distress in low-income countries.
KW - Depression
KW - Guatemala
KW - Obesity
KW - Psychological stress
KW - Stigma
KW - Weight-stigma
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.032
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 27254116
AN - SCOPUS:84973569755
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 161
SP - 55
EP - 60
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
ER -