Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to describe people’s day-to-day experiences with weight-based discrimination and to distill themes that shed new light on this phenomenon.

Design

A qualitative study was conducted in 2019 using a purposive sampling strategy. A racially and ethnically diverse sample of 32 U.S. adult men and women with a body mass index ≥30 kg/m² completed a semi-structured interview.

Results

Primary types of interpersonal weight-based discrimination included offensive comments, negative assumptions, social rejection, and unwanted attention or bullying. Participants also encountered environmental sources of weight bias such as inadequate seating in public venues. Three higher order themes that cut across people’s experiences with weight-based discrimination were identified: 1) the often-ambiguous nature of weight-based discrimination; 2) intersections between body weight and other social identities; and 3) the role of social comparison processes.

Conclusion

Findings provide a detailed portrait of people’s everyday experiences with weight-based discrimination. These experiences often reflected widely held negative stereotypes about people with higher body weight and conveyed the socially devalued status of higher-weight individuals in society. Findings have important implications for future research and interventions aimed at reducing the harmful effects of weight-based discrimination on health and emotional wellbeing.

中文翻译：

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人们对基于体重的歧视的体验的定性分析

摘要

客观的

这项研究的目的是描述人们在基于体重的歧视方面的日常经历，并提炼为这一现象提供新视角的主题。

设计

2019 年使用有目的的抽样策略进行了一项定性研究。对 32 名体重指数≥30 kg/m ²的美国成年男性和女性的种族和民族多样化样本完成了半结构化访谈。

结果

基于体重的人际歧视的主要类型包括攻击性评论、负面假设、社会排斥以及不必要的关注或欺凌。参与者还遇到了体重偏差的环境来源，例如公共场所的座位不足。确定了三个跨越人们基于体重的歧视经历的高阶主题：1）基于体重的歧视通常含糊不清；2) 体重与其他社会身份的交叉点；3) 社会比较过程的作用。

结论

调查结果详细描述了人们基于体重的歧视的日常经历。这些经历通常反映了人们普遍持有的对体重较高的人的负面刻板印象，并传达了社会中体重较高的个体在社会上被贬低的地位。研究结果对未来旨在减少基于体重的歧视对健康和情绪健康的有害影响的研究和干预措施具有重要意义。