Relationships among weight stigma, self-esteem, body satisfaction, and coping in overweight women and the impact of a mindfulness based intervention

This study examined the relationships among self-esteem, body satisfaction, experiences of weight stigma, perceived weight stigma, and coping among overweight women. This study also investigated whether a mindfulness based intervention was effective in reducing perceived weight stigma, increasing self-esteem and body satisfaction, and changing how overweight women utilized coping methods for weight stigma. Data were obtained from a research project conducted through the University of California, San Francisco referred to as the Craving and Lifestyle Management through Mindfulness (CALMM) study. The CALMM study consisted of 53 adult overweight women who were enrolled in a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial of a mindfulness based intervention to reduce stress and decrease the motivation to utilize food as a coping mechanism for stress. The Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (Myers & Rosen, 1999), Perceived Stigma Scale (Epel and McCoy, 2007), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Body Areas Satisfaction Scale from the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (Brown, Cash, and Mikulka,1990), and the Coping Responses Scale (Myers & Rosen, 1999) were used to assess levels of weight stigma, perceived weight stigma, self-esteem, body satisfaction and the use of positive self-statements, techniques to socially disarm people, use of religion, and social support as coping methods for weight stigma. Significant positive correlations were found between self-esteem and body satisfaction, experiences of weight stigma and perceived weight stigma, and experiences of weight stigma and coping methods. Significant negative correlations were found between self-esteem and experiences of weight stigma, and self-esteem and perceived weight stigma. Simple linear regression analyses demonstrated that body satisfaction and perceived weight stigma significantly predicted self-esteem, and that self-esteem significantly predicted body satisfaction. A Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance demonstrated that a mindfulness based intervention significantly increased body satisfaction among overweight women in the mindfulness based intervention when compared to the waitlist-control group. Consideration of treatment plans that address issues related to weight stigma and psychological distress are suggested. In addition, future research on the effectiveness of mindfulness based interventions on relieving psychological distress is recommended.