The Identity Threat of Weight Stigma in Adolescents.
Wren B Hand, Jennifer C Robinson, Mary W Stewart and 2 others
PMID 28436266WHAT IT FOUND
Weight stigma was not linked to disordered eating or physical activity in 302 adolescents.
Avoidant coping was linked to disordered eating, and stress was linked to coping rather than directly to disordered eating.
Key findings
01In 302 adolescents, 94% had a positive implicit weight-bias score, but direct paths from weight stigma to disordered eating and physical activity were not significant.
02Avoidant coping was linked to disordered eating, with participants endorsing it more than 1.44 times as likely to endorse disordered eating.
03Perceived stress was not directly linked to disordered eating or physical activity, but it was linked to avoidant coping, which was linked to disordered eating and fasting.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample, not random, and some schools did not allow full access; at one school the researchers only reached girls' physical education. Most participants were female and White, so results may not apply to boys or other groups. The stress, coping, and behavior measures were self-reported and collected at one time, so the study cannot show cause and effect. Students recalled disordered eating, physical activity, and screen time over the past 30 days, which can bias answers. The implicit weight-bias measure may not fully capture lived weight stigma. The article gives two perceived-stress medians, 20.5 and 23, so that descriptive statistic is unclear.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that weight stigma causes disordered eating. The direct paths from implicit weight stigma to disordered eating and physical activity were not significant, and the study measured associations at one time.