Rationale

Dominant framing of childhood obesity as a public health burden has increased weight stigma towards young people in larger bodies. However, weight stigma literature is generally limited by its focus on individuals' attitudes and beliefs, overlooking the broader social conditions shaping stigma. Further, few weight stigma studies have been conducted from young people's standpoint; little is known about how they navigate stigmatizing environments while growing up.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the social organization of young people's everyday work of growing up in a larger body, interpreting work generously as any activity requiring thought and intention.

Methods

Using institutional ethnography, we conducted individual interviews in Alberta, Canada with 16 informants aged 15–21 who grew up in larger bodies. Five, repeated group interviews were then held with a subset (n = 5) of these informants.

Results

Weight surveillance work (e.g., self-weighing on scales, social comparison) was informants' most common form of weight-related work while growing up. Surveillance results instructed them on next steps, whether that be working to fit in (literally and figuratively) or resisting social conformity altogether. Informants’ bodies were monitored by nearly everyone around them: family, peers, educators, and healthcare providers. Informants learned how and why to do the work expected of them through social relations. Despite their (mostly) good intentions, surveillance by respected adults conveyed to informants that their self-worth depended on their weight. Biomedical, individuated health and weight discourses guided the enactment of institutional policies and practices in healthcare and education, such as those related to the Body Mass Index. These ruling discourses objectified bodies as normal or abnormal, healthy or unhealthy, good or bad.

Conclusion

Overall, study findings show how young people's experiences of growing up in their bodies were predictably organized by dominant weight and health discourses, identifying possible levers for public health intervention.

中文翻译：

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体重的裁决：调查青少年体重监测工作的机构民族志

基本原理

将儿童肥胖作为公共健康负担的主要框架增加了对体型较大的年轻人的体重耻辱。然而，权重污名文学通常受限于其对个人态度和信仰的关注，而忽视了塑造污名的更广泛的社会条件。此外，很少有从年轻人的角度进行的体重耻辱研究；人们对他们在成长过程中如何驾驭污名化环境知之甚少。

客观的

本研究旨在检查在更大的身体中成长的年轻人日常工作的社会组织，将工作慷慨地解释为任何需要思想和意图的活动。

方法

使用机构人种学，我们在加拿大艾伯塔省对 16 名年龄在 15-21 岁之间、在较大团体中长大的线人进行了个人访谈。五，然后 对这些知情人的一个子集（n = 5）进行了重复的小组访谈。

结果

体重监测工作（例如，体重秤上的自称体重、社会比较）是知情人在成长过程中最常见的与体重相关的工作形式。监督结果指导他们下一步行动，无论是努力适应（字面上和比喻上）还是完全抵制社会整合。线人的身体几乎受到周围所有人的监控：家人、同龄人、教育工作者和医疗保健提供者。线人通过社会关系了解了如何以及为什么要做他们期望的工作。尽管他们（大部分）意图良好，但受人尊敬的成年人的监视向线人传达了他们的自我价值取决于他们的体重。生物医学、个性化的健康和体重论述指导了医疗保健和教育领域机构政策和实践的制定，例如与体重指数相关的政策和实践。

结论

总体而言，研究结果表明，年轻人的身体成长经历是如何通过占主导地位的体重和健康话语可预测地组织的，从而确定了公共卫生干预的可能杠杆。