Weight shaming seems to be decreasing in the US than in the UK

Americans are less likely to blame their condition on obese people, and are more likely to believe that obesity now has a medical explanation more than three years ago, over 6,000 British and US adults The results of two online surveys targeting the European and International Conference on Obesity (ECOICO 2020) were held online 1-4 September this year.

By contrast, the attitude of the United Kingdom has changed little, but nearly one in three adults surveyed in both 2017 and 2020 believe that obesity is due to people with the condition and obesity The choice that rejects the idea that it is a medical problem, not a problem.

The findings highlight the importance of initiatives aimed at combating social weight bias, researchers say.

“Weight bias causes physical and psychological harm to obese people. It’s an important barrier to reducing health effects,” said Ted Kyle of US advocate Conscien Health. say. “Attitudes appear to be improving in the United States, but our research found that blaming people for weight is still common in both countries.”

In previous studies, explicit weight bias (spontaneously reported negative attitudes could be subjectively measured) was more common in the UK than in eight other countries, including the US Severe attitude is obesity epidemic.

To investigate this further, researchers analyze responses from a random sample of 6,082 adults in the US and UK who completed an anonymous online Google survey in November 2017 and May 2020 for causes of obesity. Did. Survey participants were asked to comment on one of three different statements using a 5-point scale (strongly agree not to strongly agree). Obesity is due to obese people. Not their fault. Or, obesity is a problem because obese people are blamed for illness rather than receiving the necessary medical help. Results were adjusted for gender, age, country and year.

The analysis found a significant increase in the proportion of US survey respondents who agree that obesity was a problem because people were blamed for it instead of receiving the medical assistance they needed. From 30% (108/360) in 2017 to 42% (164/389) in 2020 (see Figure 2). However, among UK respondents, consent to the statement remained 31% in both 2017 and 2020 (see Figure 3). The results suggest that more people in the United States than in the United Kingdom may consider obesity a medical problem.

The two countries also appear to be divided on whether obese people should blame their condition. The proportion of US respondents who believe obesity is the responsibility of people with this condition is almost one-third in 2017 (31%; 115/372) to one-quarter in 2020 (25%; 93/ 377). Was almost unchanged posture About one-third (34%; 144/426) among UK respondents agreed in both 2017 and 2020 (30%; 110/372).

Opinions were split in 2020 when asked if obesity was blamed on those who had it, with UK respondents (49%; 197/404) responding to US respondents (40%; 158). /394) but the percentage is similar (16% vs 15%, agree). Overall, the researchers say the answers reflect far less criticism in the United States than in the United Kingdom.

“If someone is overweight, work can have many factors, not because of discipline or lack of willpower,” said Obesity Behavior in the United States co-authoring the study. Says Joe Nadgrosky of the Union. “We want to see how public policy professionals, health professionals, and the media can take these surveys, step back, and challenge and change the perceptions of the public. obesity.. Maybe it’s due to public education campaigns or strong policies to prevent weight-based discrimination. “

The authors point out that the main limitation of their study is that it measures explicit bias (self-reporting), not the implicit attitude that people do not express.

Provided by the European Society for the study of obesity