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Unfair treatment and discrimination towards obese individuals may negatively impact their physical health - According to a recent research published in Social Psychology Quarterly.

Obesity is a condition characterized by more than average body weight and scientifically defined as people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30. Body Mass Index is the measure of one’s body weight with respect to one’s height. Statistics indicate that about 34 percent of the adults in the United States of America are overweight (Body Mass Index ranging between 25 and 30) and about 34 percent of the adults are obese.

Obesity is widely acknowledged as a major health concern worldwide today. It is a precursor for various health risks including diabetes, cancer and heart related ailments. Apart from the impending health risks, obesity also negatively affects the overall quality of a person’s life. Additionally, it also carries with it a social stigma that surrounds the condition. A recent study revealed that the social discrimination that the obese people face: be it poor service at a restaurant, discriminated behavior by peers, unfair treatment by colleagues at the workplace or the likes, may have a straight impact on the individual’s physical health.

Considering weight and appearance of the obese individuals to be the reason for the underlying social stigma and the impact it has on the obese individual’s life on the whole, the researchers studied how perceived social discrimination based on the individual’s weight affects the identity and overall physical health of the obese population. Findings from the study had strong implications that the negative interactions and social discrimination faced by the obese individuals during their daily life majorly contribute to their deteriorating physical health.

Researchers found that about one third of the extremely obese population residing in the United States of America experience social discrimination in one form or the other. According to the researchers, when a person experiences unfair treatment or discriminative behavior socially, it hugely affects the individuals own perspective about his or her weight; it also causes them to incorporate within themselves the prejudice surrounding their weight and the social stigma that they face. In addition, social discrimination adds to their stress levels and subsequently it has an impact on the person’s physical wellbeing.

The present research was aimed at determining if the social discrimination based on weight aggravates the health risks amongst the obese population and whether the perceptions surrounding weight serve as a reason to justify the social discrimination and the consequent damages to the person’s physical health. During the study data from a national survey was taken into account along with a ten year long follow-up. Results of the study revealed that weight-based discrimination that the obese person faces socially harms the overall physical health and mars the self confidence of the person thereby increasing other health related risks linked with obesity.

Reference:

The Stigma of Obesity: Does Perceived Weight Discrimination Affect Identity and Physical Health? A study by Markus H. Schafer and Kenneth F. Ferraro, Purdue University, WEST LAFAYETTE.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2011/110303SchaferStigma.html

Disclaimer: This article is written by a non-medical professional.