The mediation effect of perceived weight stigma in association between weight status and eating disturbances among university students: is there any gender difference?

Abstract

Background The study aimed to examine the association between perceived weight stigma (PWS), weight status, and eating disturbances. We hypothesized that PWS would partially mediate the association between weight status and eating disturbances among university students. Methods The study involved 705 undergraduate students (379 females and 326 males) recruited from Hong Kong and Taiwan Universities (399 Hong Kong; 306 Taiwan participants). Our sample was from one Hong Kong university (located in Kowloon) and five Taiwan universities (three located in Southern Taiwan, one located in Central Taiwan, and one located in North Taiwan). Participants’ mean age was 20.27 years (SD = 1.79). All participants completed a demographic information sheet, the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 (TFEQ-R18), and the PWS questionnaire. PROCESS macro models were used to analyze potential mediations. Results We found a significantly higher PWS scores in a high weight group for females and males. There was a significant difference between weight status and eating disturbances. Moreover, PWS partially mediated the association between weight status and eating disturbances for both genders. Conclusions PWS is associated with weight status and eating disturbances, making it an important target for health improvement among young adults. Further studies are needed to corroborate such associations in participants from other societies and cultures.

Developing and validating a Japanese version of the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire

“…Consistent with the original report of the WSSQ [29], greater BMI was correlated with higher WSSQ-J subscale and total scores. Individuals with greater BMI would perceive greater weight stigma [12,22], and it is likely that experiencing more weight discrimination from others leads to more internalization in people with greater BMI [16]. People with greater BMI show higher discrepancies between their current and desired weight [47], and such increased discrepancies would lead to a higher desire to lose weight.…”

“…Actually, the prevalence of eating disorders is higher in females compared to that in males in Japan [32,33]. Given that WBI contributes to eating disorders [16,17,20,22,23] and is affected by sociocultural pressures regarding appearance [13], effects of gender on the role of WBI in eating disorders could be different between western countries and Japan. Future research should include more diverse samples to examine sociocultural effects on associations between gender and WBI.…”

“…People with greater BMI show higher discrepancies between their current and desired weight [47], and such increased discrepancies would lead to a higher desire to lose weight. However, WBI is connected to disordered eating, such as emotional, uncontrolled, and binge eating [20][21][22][23], and would accelerate disordered eating [23]. Moreover, individuals with higher WBI are more likely to report coping with experiences of weight stigma by eating [17].…”

“…WBI is related to depression, anxiety, body image, and self-esteem [4,18,19], and contributes to disordered eating in adults [17,[20][21][22][23] with any body weight status, including underweight/average weight, overweight, obese [24], and also in children [25]. Such disordered eating would result in increased risk of metabolic syndrome [18] and di culty maintaining a moderate weight [14,26].…”

Changes of Health Outcomes, Healthy Behaviors, Generalized Trust, and Accessibility to Health Promotion Resources in Taiwan Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparing 2011 and 2021 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) Cohorts

“…Healthy behaviors, such as physical activity engagement and fruit and vegetable intake, are important factors contributing to individuals' overall health, including their subjective health outcomes (eg, quality of life, self-perceived health). [1][2][3][4] Subjective health outcome refers to how individuals evaluate their health status. Moreover, subjective health outcomes have become commonly used health measures because they can provide information that cannot be assessed using objective measures, such as mood states of an individual (eg, depression).…”