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Synonyms Corpulent; Fat; Flabby; Heavyweight
Definition Obesity is excessive body fat (percent weight due to fat), indicated in women by 32% body fat and in men by 25% body fat. A body mass index score 30 is often used to operationally define obesity. Stigmas are physical (e.g., mephitic smelling, physical abnormalities) or verbal (e.g., convict, addict, “untouchable”) signifiers of physical or psychological defects and signify that individuals should be avoided or shunned. Stereotypes are beliefs about the behaviors and personalities of individuals who belong to social groups (e.g., racial, religious, gangs) and provide a basis for categorizing, forming impressions of, and making inferences about individual group members.
Theoretical Background The obesity stigma is distinctive for several reasons. First, children and adults explicitly tease, marginalize, dislike, and discriminate against the obese more than most other social groups; unlike other physical conditions, obesity does not typically elicit empathy. Second, obesity biases are evident by 3 years of age and, unlike other appearance-based stereotypes (e.g., racial), obesity stereotypes strengthen from childhood through adolescence. Third, despite modest cultural and ethnic differences in obesity biases, children and adults in most cultures stigmatize the obese. Finally, obese
women are treated more negatively and more frequently experience the psychosocial consequences of obesity than obese men (Brownell et al. 2005). Psychosocial correlates of obesity. Obesity biases include negative emotional responses, derogatory personality assumptions, disparaging comments, and discriminatory behaviors. Obese children and adults are disliked, teased, shamed, and marginalized more, and have fewer friends than, their average-weight counterparts. Obese adolescents and adults date less often, have less satisfactory sexual relationships, receive less social support, and face more discrimination than thinner people. The sense of estrangement, alienation, isolation, and dehumanization that characterizes the “psychosocial climate” of obesity places the obese at risk for numerous psychological difficulties. Relative to average-weight individuals, obese adolescents and adults experience more anxiety, loneliness, and body dissatisfaction, and are more prone to low self-esteem depression, poor academic performance, suicidal ideations, and pessimistic perceptions of social and occupational opportunities (Schwartz and Puhl 2003). These findings, coupled with worldwide increases in obesity, highlight the need to understand why obese children and adults are treated as social outcasts. The majority of relevant research is based on attribution theories or “pathogen avoidance” theories of obesity stigmatization. However, neither theoretic perspective has the scope or precision necessary to fully explain the obesity stigma and its development. Although a comprehensive explanation will likely require elements of both theories, current formulations of these theories rest on incompatib
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