| Obesity has reached epidemic proportions throughout the world making it one of the most pressing health problems today. Unfortunately, obese individuals are also viewed as possessing undesirable personal characteristics as a result of weight. Specifically, obese people are often blamed for their circumstances, seen as lazy, emotionally impaired, selfish, having limited will power, character, and responsibility and are stigmatized as having a disability resulting from personal choice. While different cultures and communities perceive weight status differently, obesity has a negative impact on both physical health and mental health, including self-esteem. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine whether or not there was a correlation between self-esteem and the extent to which healthcare professionals were perceived to stigmatize obese minority patients through their anti-fat attitudes. In addition, this study sought to ascertain whether or not BMI and/or gender moderated the relationship between self-esteem and the extent to which healthcare professionals were perceived to stigmatize obese minority patients through their anti-fat attitudes. Participants included 37 males and 71 females (N=108) with an average BMI of 40.8. Obesity Discrimination was found to be the strongest predictor of Self Esteem. Specifically, there was strong evidence to suggest obese African American patients who perceive greater stigmatization within the medical profession tended to have lower self-esteem. Similarly, based on the strength of evidence African American patients who have more severe obesity also tended to have lower self-esteem. Despite the significance of Obesity Discrimination and Severity of Obesity on Self-Esteem, the interactions between obesity discrimination and severity of obesity, and between Obesity Discrimination and Gender were not significant. The results of this study are thought to have far reaching implications for population health finding that obesity discrimination is the strongest predictor of self-esteem. This study provides several contributions to theory and research by contributing to social stigma and obesity stigma theories. In doing so, it is hoped to provide a better understanding of how the perception of obesity discrimination within the medical community impacts the self-esteem of an obese African American population known to have more than one stigmatized attribute (race, obesity). |
