Psychosocial Distress in People with Overweight and Obesity: the Role of Weight Stigma and Social Support

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2025 Jan 23

PMID 39845561

Authors

Vladimira Timkova

Pavol Mikula

Iveta Nagyova

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We aimed to assess the role of weight stigma and social support in depression, anxiety, and loneliness controlling for sociodemographic and clinical variables. A total of 189 adults with overweight/obesity were included. Participants were recruited from outpatient clinics by general practitioners which covered all regions of Slovakia. Correlation analyses and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. Participants experienced weight-related teasing (40.4%), unfair treatment (18.0%), and discrimination (14.1%). We found an association between lower age, female sex and psychological distress. No role of obesity indicators in psychosocial distress was identified, except for a small association between body mass index and depression in correlation analyses. Significant associations between experienced weight stigma/self-stigmatization and psychosocial distress weakened when variables related to the social support system were added to the linear regression. Poor social support was strongly associated with depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The explained variance in the final regression models was 42, 44, and 54%, respectively. Weight stigma negatively affects mental health and a sense of belonging while it seems to be a more significant contributor to psychosocial distress compared to obesity per se. Interventions targeting weight-related self-stigmatization and social relationships may mitigate the negative impact of weight stigma on psychosocial well-being.

References

Lee K, Hunger J, Tomiyama A . Weight stigma and health behaviors: evidence from the Eating in America Study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021; 45(7):1499-1509. PMC: 8236399. DOI: 10.1038/s41366-021-00814-5. View

Surkalim D, Luo M, Eres R, Gebel K, Van Buskirk J, Bauman A . The prevalence of loneliness across 113 countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2022; 376:e067068. PMC: 8826180. DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2021-067068. View

Karimi Z, Taheri-Kharameh Z, Sharififard F . Cultural Adaption and Psychometric Analysis of Family APGAR Scale in Iranian Older People. Korean J Fam Med. 2022; 43(2):141-146. PMC: 8943237. DOI: 10.4082/kjfm.21.0028. View

Lillis J, Luoma J, Levin M, Hayes S . Measuring weight self-stigma: the weight self-stigma questionnaire. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009; 18(5):971-6. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.353. View

Mannucci E, Petroni M, Villanova N, Rotella C, Apolone G, Marchesini G . Clinical and psychological correlates of health-related quality of life in obese patients. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2010; 8:90. PMC: 2939642. DOI: 10.1186/1477-7525-8-90. View

Ringel M, Ditto P . The moralization of obesity. Soc Sci Med. 2019; 237:112399. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112399. View

Kroenke K, Spitzer R, Williams J . The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001; 16(9):606-13. PMC: 1495268. DOI: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x. View

Spitzer R, Kroenke K, Williams J, Lowe B . A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006; 166(10):1092-7. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092. View

Faul F, Erdfelder E, Buchner A, Lang A . Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behav Res Methods. 2009; 41(4):1149-60. DOI: 10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149. View

10.

Kocalevent R, Berg L, Beutel M, Hinz A, Zenger M, Harter M . Social support in the general population: standardization of the Oslo social support scale (OSSS-3). BMC Psychol. 2018; 6(1):31. PMC: 6050647. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-018-0249-9. View

11.

Hajek A, Kretzler B, Konig H . The Association Between Obesity and Social Isolation as Well as Loneliness in the Adult Population: A Systematic Review. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2021; 14:2765-2773. PMC: 8216698. DOI: 10.2147/DMSO.S313873. View

12.

Vallis M . Quality of life and psychological well-being in obesity management: improving the odds of success by managing distress. Int J Clin Pract. 2016; 70(3):196-205. PMC: 5067635. DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.12765. View

13.

Kahan S, Puhl R . The damaging effects of weight bias internalization. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017; 25(2):280-281. DOI: 10.1002/oby.21772. View

14.

Schneidewind L, Stangl F, Kranz J, Bonkat G . Re: Fredrik Liedberg, Evanguelos Xylinas, Paolo Gontero. Quinolone Prophylaxis in Conjunction with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Instillations for Bladder Cancer: Time To Reconsider the Evidence and Open the Quinolone Box? Eur Urol Focus. In press..... Eur Urol Focus. 2024; . DOI: 10.1016/j.euf.2024.10.012. View

14.

Zafir S, Jovanovski N . The weight of words: Discursive constructions of health in weight-neutral peer-reviewed journal articles. Body Image. 2022; 40:358-369. DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.01.009. View

15.

Powell V, Kumar N, Galecki A, Kabeto M, Clauw D, Williams D . Bad company: Loneliness longitudinally predicts the symptom cluster of pain, fatigue, and depression in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022; 70(8):2225-2234. PMC: 9378441. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.17796. View

16.

Steptoe A, Frank P . Obesity and psychological distress. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023; 378(1888):20220225. PMC: 10475872. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0225. View

17.

Smilkstein G, Ashworth C, Montano D . Validity and reliability of the family APGAR as a test of family function. J Fam Pract. 1982; 15(2):303-11. View

18.

Jung F, Luck-Sikorski C . Overweight and Lonely? A Representative Study on Loneliness in Obese People and Its Determinants. Obes Facts. 2019; 12(4):440-447. PMC: 6758716. DOI: 10.1159/000500095. View

19.

Thompson K, Bardone-Cone A . Disordered eating behaviors and attitudes and their correlates among a community sample of older women. Eat Behav. 2019; 34:101301. DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.05.004. View