Pervasive stigma against fat people and evidence for its harmful health consequences highlight the need for a better understanding of people's first-hand experiences of navigating the world with a stigmatized body size. Drawing on social identity threat theory, we conducted a mixed-method study with a qualitative examination of threat and safety cues as experienced by people who self-identify as overweight. In an online survey, 48 people who self-identified as overweight responded to open-ended prompts to describe how situational features of a setting signal weight-based threat and safety to them. Using thematic analysis, we identified several themes that characterized threat and safety cues. Particularly notable were inverse themes, such as structural exclusion versus structural accommodation and homogeneity of others versus general diversity, that highlighted how physical features of, and the people in, an environment positively or negatively impact fat people's psychological experience. Moreover, we conducted exploratory deductive coding using a recent taxonomy of safety cues developed by Kruk and Matsick (in press). Results highlighted how weight-based stigma both parallels and diverges from other cues of identity safety (e.g., by gender or race/ethnicity). We suggest knowledge about situational cues can inform interventions to mitigate threat and promote safety among both fat people and other stigmatized groups.

中文翻译：

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信号尺寸歧视：基于身体尺寸的威胁和安全提示的评估

对肥胖者的普遍污名及其有害健康后果的证据强调，有必要更好地了解人们以被污名化的体型在世界各地航行的第一手经验。借鉴社会认同威胁理论，我们进行了一项混合方法研究，对自我认定为超重的人所经历的威胁和安全线索进行定性检查。在一项在线调查中，48 名自称超重的人对开放式提示做出回应，以描述环境特征如何向他们发出基于体重的威胁和安全信号。通过主题分析，我们确定了几个以威胁和安全线索为特征的主题。特别值得注意的是反向主题，例如结构排斥与结构调节以及其他人的同质性与普遍的多样性，这突出了环境中的人的身体特征如何积极或消极地影响胖人的心理体验。此外，我们使用最近由 Kruk 和 Matsick 开发的安全提示分类法（印刷中）进行了探索性演绎编码。结果强调了基于体重的污名如何与其他身份安全线索（例如，按性别或种族/民族）平行和不同。我们建议，有关情境线索的知识可以为干预措施提供信息，以减轻肥胖者和其他被污名化群体的威胁并促进安全。