TY - JOUR
T1 - "What can her body do?"
T2 - Reducing weight stigma by appreciating another person's body functionality
AU - Alleva, Jessica M.
AU - Karos, Kai
AU - Meadows, Angela
AU - Waldén, Moon I
AU - Stutterheim, Sarah E.
AU - Lissandrello, Francesca
AU - Atkinson, Melissa J
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Alleva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/5/14
Y1 - 2021/5/14
N2 - OBJECTIVE: Weight stigma is prevalent across multiple life domains, and negatively affects both psychological and physical health. Yet, research into weight stigma reduction techniques is limited, and rarely results in reduced antipathy toward higher-weight individuals. The current pre-registered study investigated a novel weight stigma reduction intervention. We tested whether a writing exercise focusing on body functionality (i.e., everything the body can do, rather than how it looks) of another person leads to reductions in weight stigma.METHOD: Participants were 98 women (Mage = 23.17, Range = 16-63) who viewed a photograph of a higher-weight woman, "Anne," and were randomised to complete a writing exercise either describing what "Anne's" body could do (experimental group) or describing her home (active control group). Facets of weight stigma were assessed at pretest and posttest.RESULTS: At posttest, the experimental group evidenced higher fat acceptance and social closeness to "Anne" compared with the active control group. However, no group differences were found in attribution complexity, responsibility, and likeability of "Anne".CONCLUSIONS: A brief body functionality intervention effectively reduced some, but not all, facets of weight stigma in women. This study provides evidence that functionality-focused interventions may hold promise as a means to reduce weight stigma.
AB - OBJECTIVE: Weight stigma is prevalent across multiple life domains, and negatively affects both psychological and physical health. Yet, research into weight stigma reduction techniques is limited, and rarely results in reduced antipathy toward higher-weight individuals. The current pre-registered study investigated a novel weight stigma reduction intervention. We tested whether a writing exercise focusing on body functionality (i.e., everything the body can do, rather than how it looks) of another person leads to reductions in weight stigma.METHOD: Participants were 98 women (Mage = 23.17, Range = 16-63) who viewed a photograph of a higher-weight woman, "Anne," and were randomised to complete a writing exercise either describing what "Anne's" body could do (experimental group) or describing her home (active control group). Facets of weight stigma were assessed at pretest and posttest.RESULTS: At posttest, the experimental group evidenced higher fat acceptance and social closeness to "Anne" compared with the active control group. However, no group differences were found in attribution complexity, responsibility, and likeability of "Anne".CONCLUSIONS: A brief body functionality intervention effectively reduced some, but not all, facets of weight stigma in women. This study provides evidence that functionality-focused interventions may hold promise as a means to reduce weight stigma.
KW - ADULTS
KW - ATTITUDES
KW - BIAS
KW - DISCRIMINATION
KW - FAT
KW - INTERGROUP CONTACT
KW - MEDIA
KW - OBJECTIFICATION THEORY
KW - PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION
KW - WOMEN
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0251507
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0251507
M3 - Article
C2 - 33989320
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 5
M1 - e0251507
ER -