Review of the Experience of Weight-Based Stigmatization in Romantic Relationships
- PDF / 275,751 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 26 Downloads / 161 Views
PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES (V DRAPEAU AND V IVEZAJ, SECTION EDITORS)
Review of the Experience of Weight-Based Stigmatization in Romantic Relationships Marilou Côté 1,2 & Catherine Bégin 1,2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review This narrative review summarizes literature on the stigma and prejudices experienced by individuals based on their weight in the context of romantic relationships. Recent Findings Individuals presenting with overweight or obesity, particularly women, are disadvantaged in the formation of romantic relationships compared with their normal-weight counterparts. They are also more prone to experience weight-based stigmatization towards their couple (from others), as well as among their couple (from their romantic partner). Currently available studies showed that weight-based stigmatization by a romantic partner was found to be associated with personal and interpersonal correlates, such as body dissatisfaction, relationship and sexual dissatisfaction, and disordered eating behaviors. Summary Scientific literature on weight-based stigmatization among romantic relationships is still scarce. Prospective researches are clearly needed to identify consequences of this specific type of stigmatization on individuals’ personal and interpersonal well-being. The use of dyadic designs could help to deepen our understanding as it would take into account the interdependence of both partners. Keywords Weight-based stigmatization . Prejudices . Weight comments . Weight criticism . Romantic relationships . Romantic partners
Introduction Individuals with obesity are prone to be the target of weightbased stigmatization [1]. Stigma refers to “negative attitudes about individuals based on suppositions about a group they belong” (p.9; [2]), herein obesity. The prevalence of weight stigmatization is high and increased from 7% in the mid1990s to 12% in the mid-2000s among the general population of the USA [3]. The rate reaches 14% for individuals with This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychological Issues * Catherine Bégin [email protected] Marilou Côté [email protected] 1
School of Psychology, Laval University, Pavillon F-A.-Savard, 2325, rue des Bibliothèques, local 1116, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
2
Centre d’Expertise Poids, Image et Alimentation, Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Pavillon des Services, 2440 boulevard Hochelaga, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
moderate obesity and 43% for those with severe obesity [3]. It is now almost as common as racial discrimination, especially for women who report twice as many experiences of weight-based stigmatization as men [3, 4]. The experience of weight-based stigmatization has been prospectively associated with higher risk of becoming obese (2.5 times more likely than those who had not experienced such stigmatization) and remaining obese (three times more likely) 4 years later [5]. Weight-based stigma may be expressed in different forms, including verbal
Data Loading...
