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Study Shows Depth of Obesity Stigma

By DANIEL Q. HANEY, AP Medical Editor

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - While it is no surprise that people

often have a low opinion of the overweight, a new study finds that just standing

next to a large person can be bad for one's image.

The experiment, conducted in England, demonstrates the depths

of stigmatization endured by heavy people: It even rubs off on their friends.

Trying to combat discrimination against the overweight is a

topic of discussion at this week's meeting in Fort Lauderdale of the North

American Association for the Study of Obesity, the field's top professional

organization.

Even here, though, another study suggests that obesity

specialists themselves may harbor subtle, if unintentional, negative attitudes

toward their patients.

" Weight stigma is powerful, pervasive and destructive, " said

Marlene Schwartz, a Yale psychologist.

In the English study, psychologist Halford and

colleagues from the University of Liverpool tested 144 female students'

reactions to two prom photos. One showed a dapper, thin young fellow standing

next to a svelte ringlet-haired woman. The other was the same photo altered to

show the guy arm-in-arm with a very large, nicely dressed woman.

The volunteers took a quick look at one or the other of the

pictures and then were asked their opinion of the man. They rated him from 1 to

5 on 50 negative adjectives _ called the " fat phobia scale " _ that people often

use to describe obese people.

The man with the big woman was rated 22 percent more

negatively than the same fellow with the thin companion. When seen with the

large woman, he was more likely to be described as miserable, self-indulgent,

passive, shapeless, depressed, weak, insignificant and insecure.

" It shows that people project negative attitudes associated

with obesity not only on the obese but all those who associate with them, "

Halford said.

The study also found that students who were themselves

overweight were more likely than usual to rate the man harshly when pictured

with the obese partner.

At the same obesity meeting two years ago, researchers give a

word quiz, called an implicit association test, to about 200 obesity

professionals. The test, intended to measure bias, asks people to quickly link

up words like " lazy, " " stupid " and " worthless " on command with obese or thin

people.

The results, described at this year's meeting, showed that

obesity professionals were more apt to link the negative words with overweight

people, even when trying not to.

" These are unconscious attitudes, " said Chambliss of

the Institute in Dallas.

Carol of Milwaukee, a large woman who heads a support

organization called Largely Positive, told the conference that overweight people

are often discriminated against by doctors, who ascribe all their problems to

weight and sometimes withhold standard treatments, like blood pressure pills,

that they freely prescribe to thin patients.

" Society wants no fatties, " said.

Puhl of Yale said bias against the large begins early

in life. Studies show that even preschoolers are more likely to describe

overweight playmates as mean, ugly or stupid.

She said overweight people are less likely to get into

college, less likely to get hired and more likely to get fired.

" Expressing negative attitudes toward obese people has become

an acceptable form of bias, " she said.

___

Medical Editor Q. Haney is a special correspondent for

The Associated Press.

___

On the Net:

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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This

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