Family‐based weight stigma and psychosocial health: A multinational comparison

Abstract

Objective Family‐based weight stigma can be expressed as criticism, judgment, teasing, and mistreatment by family members because of an individual's body weight. The current study compared the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of family‐based weight stigma among adult members of a weight‐management program living in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US. Methods Participants (N = 8100 adults who reported having ever experienced weight stigma; 95% female; 94% White) completed an identical online survey in their country's dominant language that assessed their experiences of weight stigma from 16 different family member sources, as well as internalized weight bias, body image, eating behaviors, perceived stress, and self‐rated health. Results Family‐based weight stigma, especially from mothers (49%‐62%), spouses/romantic partners (40%‐57%), and fathers (35%‐48%), was highly prevalent across countries. Weight stigma from one's immediate family members was associated with indices of poorer psychosocial health across the six countries (β coefficients = |0.08‐0.13|). Conclusions Findings highlight the need for weight stigma‐reduction efforts to help family members distinguish between supportive, encouraging discourse and potentially weight‐stigmatizing communication. Future research should examine the prevalence and correlates of family‐based weight stigma in more diverse community samples, including among racially/ethnically and gender diverse adults, and in non‐Western countries.

Support or stigma? Investigating weight stigma and close relationships from pregnancy through the postpartum.

“…Familial relationships as a source of weight stigma have been extensively studied among nonpregnant adults, and results consistently show that family members may implicitly or explicitly make judgemental and harmful remarks about one's weight and body (Gerend et al, 2022;Lawrence et al, 2023;Nagpal et al, 2023;Papadopoulos & Brennan, 2015;Pearl et al, 2018;Puhl et al, 2008;Rand et al, 2017). In fact, a mixed methods investigation that included open-ended survey responses completed by individuals who had experienced weight stigma asked participants to recall their "worst experience," and family was the most referenced source (Puhl et al, 2008).…”

“…Drawing from studies with nonpregnant participants, experiencing weight stigma from family and friends does negatively affect relationship quality and perceived levels of social support (Carels et al, 2020(Carels et al, , 2022Lawrence et al, 2023;Papadopoulos & Brennan, 2015;Rand et al, 2017). For instance, weight stigma from partners has been associated with reduced marital satisfaction (Carels et al, 2022), and feelings of shame increase when weight-related judgemental comments are received from trusted sources of family and friends (Rand et al, 2017).…”

“…For instance, weight stigma from partners has been associated with reduced marital satisfaction (Carels et al, 2022), and feelings of shame increase when weight-related judgemental comments are received from trusted sources of family and friends (Rand et al, 2017). A recent study with more than 8,100 adults reported that globally family-imposed weight stigma is prevalent and is associated with poor psychological health outcomes (Lawrence et al, 2023). Evaluating the impact of weight stigma on indices of relationship quality may offer necessary evidence to inform population-level weight stigma mitigation strategies.…”

Words matter: The role of family weight talk in anxiety and depression

“…Prior family research suggests that one potential contributing factor is family weight talk (Eisenberg et al, 2019;Eisenberg et al, 2020;Pearlman et al, 2020;Puhl et al, 2019), which includes weight teasing, critical commentary about appearance, body shape or size, and encouragement to diet (Berge et al, 2013;Berge et al, 2016). Family weight talk is highly prevalent across the globe (Lawrence et al, 2023b) and has been linked to negative psychosocial outcomes throughout the literature (Bauer et al, 2013;Eisenberg et al, 2020;Puhl et al, 2019). According to attachment theory, family messages have the capacity to create environments of either safety and security or rejection and abandonment, depending on the nature of the message, and these messages can have implications for psychosocial health (Holmes & Farnfield, 2022).…”

“…Although weight talk can be harmful from any source, it is particularly harmful when perpetrated by family (Berge et al, 2016;Gillison et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2023aLawrence et al, , 2023bPuhl et al, 2017). Attachment theory posits that families (parents specifically) who are available and responsive to their children when in distress and provide environments of safety and support enable their children to develop secure attachments (Holmes & Farnfield, 2022).…”