Effects of Weight-Related Self-Stigma and Smartphone Addiction on Female University Students’ Physical Activity Levels

Abstract

Physical inactivity is a common health problem in female college students, and factors such as weight self-stigma and smartphone addiction may negatively impact physical activity in this population. The aim of the current study was to investigate the associations between these variables and identify the moderating effects of smartphone addiction between weight stigma and physical activity. Using a cross-sectional study, information on the level of physical activity in the past week, weight-related self-stigma, and smartphone addiction, as well as demographics, were collected via an online survey from 391 female college students in Taiwan. Participants in two groups of moderate to high and low physical activity were compared using a zero-order bivariate correlation in terms of independent variables. A moderated mediation model using Model 14 in the Hayes’ PROCESS macro with 1000 bootstrapping resamples was applied to assess moderation effects. There were significant differences in terms of weight status, smartphone addiction, and weight stigma between active and inactive groups (p < 0.001). All independent variables except for age were positively correlated (0.14 < r < 0.45). Multivariate regression models indicated that weight status was associated with weight stigma (odds ratio [OR] = 9.13, p < 0.001; 95% CI = 6.90, 11.35). Weight status (OR = 0.47, p = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.23, 0.93), weight stigma (OR = 0.96, p = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.922, 0.997), and smartphone addiction (OR = 0.11, p = 0.003; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.47) were associated with physical activity. The moderating role of smartphone addiction on the association between weight stigma and physical activity was also identified (OR = 1.05, p = 0.049; 95% CI = 1.0001, 1.1004). The moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the association between weight stigma and physical activity suggests that designing interventions to address the negative impacts of both weight stigma and smartphone addiction may help to improve physical activity in female college students.

Gender Differences in the Associations Between Physical Activity, Smartphone Use, and Weight Stigma

“…Female university students were impacted more by their weight-related self-stigma on their PA, while male students were more impacted by the perceived weight stigma on PA. The gender differences may be explained by the features of gender such as females have more internalizing problems (e.g., depression) and males having more externalizing problems (e.g., aggressive behaviors) ( 53 – 59 ). Internalizing problems among females may maximize their feelings of weight-related self-stigma, which in turn, are associated with their lowered PA ( 59 ).…”

“…The gender differences may be explained by the features of gender such as females have more internalizing problems (e.g., depression) and males having more externalizing problems (e.g., aggressive behaviors) ( 53 – 59 ). Internalizing problems among females may maximize their feelings of weight-related self-stigma, which in turn, are associated with their lowered PA ( 59 ). Externalizing problems among males may make them share the attitudes and behaviors of their peers, which strengthens the effects of their perceived weight stigma on PA ( 53 – 58 ).…”

The Relationship between Cellphone Usage on the Physical and Mental Wellbeing of University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In some cases, excessive usage has been found to increase the risk of obesity because mobile use displaces exercise. However, other studies have ascertained that excessive mobile use can be associated with positive benefits such as the use of fitness apps that can increase the level of physical exercise in users [ 49 , 50 , 52 ]. This reflects the degree to which the harm caused by mobile device usage may vary according to the kinds of uses of such devices, with positive uses potentially rebalancing negative effects.…”

Translation and psychometric evaluation of Smartphone Addiction Scale—Short Version (SAS-SV) among Chinese college students

“…Moreover, in recent years, some scholars have paid more attention to the SABAS and applied it to evaluate the smartphone addiction of college students. The SABAS has been tested in Malaysia [29,30], Bangladesh [31], Indonesia [32], and China [30,[33][34][35][36] as a good instru-ment to measure college students' smartphone addiction.…”