Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0277787 (stigma)
 13,352 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Preliminary, exploratory studies examine self-perceptions of the stigma of overweight in relatiopship to weight-losing patterns of female and male children of different ages. It is suggested that the concept of stigma may be a viable analytical tool in studying overweight as: an exclusive focus in interaction, related to a negative body image, overwhelming others with mixed emotions, clashing with other attributes of the person, an equivocal predictor of activities, and related to one's sense of responsibility for one's overweight. Female adolescents in the Slimnastics class in a high school and children and adolescents in an obesity clinic in a hospital were studied. Male children and female adolescents had more trouble losing weight than did female children and male adolescents. Youth who viewed overweight as both one's responsibility and as an illness that required the joint efforts of oneself and others, especially professional experts, were more successful in losing weight than those youth who believed that overweight was solely their responsibility or not at all their responsibility. Intensive focusing on one's overweight and one one's negative body image seemed to inhibit or deter weight losing for some youth.
 ...
PMID:Self-perceptions of the stigma of overweight in relationship to weight-losing patterns. 42 Jan 37

The influence of relative weight on sociometric nominations (liking and disliking) and sociometric ratings by first, third, and fifth graders was assessed. In terms of nominations, first grade overweight males, relative to other males and to overweight females, received fewer liking nominations. On the sociometric ratings, third grade overweight males were rated lower by other males. Ratings by females at each grade level, and by fifth grade males, were influenced by gender considerations and not by weight considerations. That is, boys rated boys higher than they rated girls, and girls rated girls higher than they rated boys, regardless of the child's weight status. Additional analyses demonstrated that these findings were not qualified by the weight of the child making the ratings. Thus, developmental evidence was found for less liking (but not disliking) of overweight peers among first and third grade males, while weight did not appear to influence the decisions of fifth graders. These results call into question the validity of a social stigma often assumed to be associated with overweight children.
 ...
PMID:A developmental analysis of the influence of body weight on the sociometry of children. 267 42

It is argued that the stigma attached to overweight or obesity often causes overweight to operate as a "master status." College students (N = 223) were asked to write stories about male and female stimulus characters who varied only in body image. It was hypothesized that subjects writing about overweight stimulus characters would be more likely than those writing about normal weight characters to (a) write sad or negative stories, (b) create unpleasant characters, and (c) describe their characters with more negative personality characteristics on a semantic differential personality scale. Support was found for part (a) and (b) of the hypothesis but not part (c). The relationships were stronger when the stimulus was a picture than when it was a descriptive paragraph and when the stimulus character was female rather than male. There was indication that female subjects were more likely to associate an overweight body image with an unpleasant personality than were male subjects.
 ...
PMID:The salience of overweight in personality characterization. 726 15

Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice and discrimination may protect the mood and self-esteem of some stigmatized groups. Thus, the overweight may be low in self-esteem because they blame their weight, but not the attitudes of others, for negative outcomes based on their weight. In an experiment, 27 overweight and 31 normal weight college women received either positive or negative social feedback from a male evaluator. Relative to other groups, overweight women who received negative feedback attributed the feedback to their weight but did not blame the evaluator for his reaction. This attributional pattern resulted in more negative mood for these overweight women in comparison with other groups. Dimensions of stigma that may account for differences in the tendency to attribute negative outcomes to prejudice, and implications of these findings for weight loss programs and psychotherapy for the overweight, are discussed.
 ...
PMID:The stigma of overweight: affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. 842 Dec 52

The association between body weight and depressive symptoms in older adults was examined in a population-based study of 2,245 noninstitutionalized men and women aged 50 to 89 years living in Rancho Bernardo, California, U.S.A. The prevalence of Beck Depression Inventory scores > or = 13 was inversely associated with body weight in men, but not in women. Overweight and obese 50- to 69-yr-old women were more depressed than women with a body mass index below 25 kg/m2, but the difference was only marginally significant (p = 0.09). When age, health status and medication use were controlled, the odds of being depressed were 0.34 (p = 0.004) in overweight men and 0.28 (p = 0.09) in obese men, compared to men with a body mass index below 25 kg/m2. In this cohort, depression in men was inversely associated with body weight, supporting the "Jolly Fat" hypothesis. The likelihood that more stigma is attached to excessive weight in women than men may account for the lack of an inverse association between weight and depression in women.
 ...
PMID:Depressive symptoms in overweight and obese older adults: a test of the "jolly fat" hypothesis. 873 Jun 45

Despite increasing trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, fatness phobia is common during female adolescence. This study has demonstrated a high level of dissatisfaction with body weight in a sample of Dublin schoolgirls aged 15 y. Of 420 subjects, 59% reported that they wanted to be slimmer and 68% had previously tried to lose weight. Contrary to expectations, overweight girls were not found to hold the monopoly on such dissatisfactions. Normal weight and even underweight girls also expressed a desire to be thinner and reported using unhealthy weight control practices including random avoidance of staple foods, fasting, smoking and purging, in their pursuit of the 'perfect' female figure. Obesity prevention programmes which target adolescent girls 'at risk' of overweight and obesity, must take cognizance of their profound fear of fatness, otherwise the use of harmful slimming strategies may be further increased as teenage girls frantically try to lose weight and to avoid the stigma associated with female fatness.
 ...
PMID:The pursuit of thinness: a study of Dublin schoolgirls aged 15 y. 962 47

The economic costs of obesity can be broken down into three levels: 1. DIRECT COSTS: Costs to the community, related to the diversion of resources to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases directly related to obesity, as well as the treatment of obesity itself. These costs have been estimated to vary between 1-5% of total healthcare costs for various countries. Usually, the cost of obesity alone has been calculated, although it is known that the costs associated with being overweight [body mass index (BMI) 25-30 kg/m2] are also substantial because of the large proportion of individuals involved. These constitute costs to the health service (visits to general practitioners, consultations with medical specialists, hospital admissions and medication). 2. SOCIETAL OR INDIRECT COSTS: These costs are related to the loss of productivity caused by absenteeism, disability pensions and premature death. There is a lack of good economic analysis on this subject, although research from Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands has clearly shown that obesity is associated with increased sick leave and disability pensions. 3. PERSONAL COSTS: Obese subjects may earn less than their lean counterparts because of job discrimination (related to the stigma associated with obesity, or due to diseases and disabilities caused by obesity). Many insurance companies (particularly life insurance) charge higher premiums with increasing degrees of overweight. Obesity is further related to poor physical functioning and limitations in daily life. Some of these require assistance or adaptations which may be costly for an individual. In conclusion, there is much indirect information that obesity and overweight contribute substantially to healthcare-related costs. Data on aspects such as societal costs and personal costs are too fragmentary to allow calculation of the expenses involved. An appropriate analysis of all costs associated with obesity is important in order to persuade responsible bodies to develop strategies towards the prevention and long-term management of obesity.
 ...
PMID:Societal and personal costs of obesity. 979 74

Two studies addressed the relationship between Protestant ethic (PE) ideology and psychological well-being for self-perceived overweight and normal weight women. In Study 1, PE beliefs interacted with self-perceived weight status: For very overweight women, higher PE beliefs were related to lower psychological well-being, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for normal weight women. The relationship of PE to well-being was not mediated by beliefs about controllability of weight or dislike of the overweight. In Study 2, either a PE ideology or an inclusive ideology was primed within the context of the stigma of overweight. For overweight participants, priming PE ideology led to decreased psychological well-being, whereas priming an inclusive ideology led to increased psychological well-being. Normal weight participants were unaffected. PE ideology as a vulnerability factor for the psychological well-being of the overweight is discussed.
 ...
PMID:When ideology hurts: effects of belief in the protestant ethic and feeling overweight on the psychological well-being of women. 1047 14

Many of the behavioral interventions designed to promote dietary change in individuals include medical assessment, initial assessment of diet history, assessing readiness, establishing dietary goals, self-monitoring, stimulus control training, training in problem solving, relapse prevention training, enlisting social support, nutrition education, dietary therapy, and ongoing contact to maintain progress. The comprehensive nature of a cognitive-behavioral weight management program is of value in modifying behaviors that are linked to adverse health effects and psychological distresses, without necessarily causing a drastic weight loss in obese individuals. The behavioral treatments for overweight and obesity directly modify behaviors that bear on health and illness, such as improving dietary choices, decreasing sedentary behaviors, and increasing habitual physical activity and exercises. Cognitive-behavioral treatment can be used to help overweight adolescents become more assertive in coping with the adverse social stigma of being overweight, enhance their self-esteem, and reduce their dissatisfaction with body image regardless of their weight loss. Cognitive-behavioral treatments seem to be more effective in children when delivered before puberty than they are for adults.
 ...
PMID:Cognitive-behavioral approaches in the management of obesity. 1252 89

This study examined whether viewing a documentary that depicts individuals with schizophrenia can reduce psychiatric stigma. One hundred and sixty-three individuals were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: no documentary film, documentary about polar bears, documentary about fears of being overweight, and documentary about schizophrenia. Participants also completed a battery of tasks assessing attitudes toward persons with schizophrenia, attributions about the disorder, and intentions to interact with individuals with schizophrenia. The findings showed that compared to the other experimental conditions, the documentary about schizophrenia resulted in more benign attributions about schizophrenia (e.g., less likely to blame individuals with schizophrenia for the disorder) but did not change general attitudes about schizophrenia (e.g., perceived dangerousness). The film also did not increase participants' intentions to interact with persons with schizophrenia. These findings could not be attributed to mood changes associated with the film or how much participants liked the film. The findings provide partial support for the hypothesis that a media depiction of persons with schizophrenia can reduce stigma.
 ...
PMID:The effects of a documentary film about schizophrenia on psychiatric stigma. 1455 11


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>