Increasing evidence suggests that social processes including weight-related stigma are key to explaining many consequences of overweight and obesity. For instance, people carrying genetic variants linked to obesity are at higher risk of depression, even where those variants have no known metabolic consequences. This strongly implicates social, not just biological, processes by which body weight affects mental health. Among the different facets of stigma is internalized weight stigma (self-attribution of negative obesity-related stereotypes) which may have especially negative consequences.
Despite strong theoretical work in this area, our empirical understanding of weight stigma’s causes and consequences is limited. This includes how social, psychological, and familial factors across the lifecourse influence weight stigma internalization, and the consequences for mental health and social functioning. This is because research has been almost entirely based on small, non-representative samples. This PhD project will use the data on internalized weight stigma at age 31, completed by ALSPAC participants of all weight statuses, to investigate causes and consequences of weight stigma internalization in a large sample of young people.