Weight-Stigma and Body Satisfaction amo...

Introduction: The worldwide obesity pandemic has far reaching  consequences for the  overweight  individual. Overweight  itself  can  lead  to  impaired  physical health, the associated weight stigma to impaired mental health.  As  weight  bias starts  as  early  as  in  preschool  age,  it  is important   to   find   out   what sociodemographic   and psychosocial  factors  promote  weight  stigma  in children and how to prevent them. 

Methods: Within  the  DONUT-project  282  children between  the  age  three  to seven  were  interviewed  about their  preference  of  different  sizes  in playmates and  the adjectives  they  attributed  to  normal  and  overweight figures. Answers have been correlated with the child’s weight, perceived and ideal body size, gender, and age.

Results: Weight   stigma   is   evident   throughout   the sample, while  older children  tend  to  show  a  higher weight  bias  than  younger children.  Girls  were found  to display  a  stronger  weight  bias  than  boys.  A higher children’s  weight showed  a  positive  correlation  with association  of negative  adjectives  to  the overweight target  figure.  A  lower  perceived  or ideal body  size  was associated with  higher  negative  correlations  towards overweight  individuals.  There  was no  body  satisfaction effect on expressed weight stigma. 

Discussion: Our   findings   provide   further   evidence about  the  relationship between  different sociodemo-graphic and psychosocial constructs. This relationship is difficult  and needs  more  research.  The  importance  of our results  for  early  prevention  programs  to  reduce weight stigma in children and society is discussed.