This article is dealing with a study that has been published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. This study has concluded that stigmatization about weight excess during adolescence leaded to very negative physical and psychological health issues. This topic is very relevant as today, in our occidental cultures, more and more children are suffering from obesity at a young age, while in the mean time we are overexposed to so many unrealistic body images on television and in magazines.
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the long-term effects of being teased about weight during adolescence, studying the consequences on adults health state and behaviors. 1800 people have been followed during 15 years, and the results have claimed that being mocked about weight by peers or by family is strongly associated with binge eating, a poor body image and a higher BMI once an adult. The effects are the same for both men and women, but for men we can also add to these consequences a high tendency of being obese even when becoming an adult.
This study has underlied the fact that stigmatization and criticism have a terrible impact on overweighted people, and that it does not help them to induce some changes in their behaviors. On the contrary, being teased about weight freezes them into their unhealthy way of life, as they feel terrible about themselves and have a very low self-esteem. This loss of self-confidence and the very negative body image they often have make them don’t believe anymore in their abilities of changing behaviors. It also affects consequently their motivation for change. Furthermore, being mocked is emotionally and psychologically very difficult to handle, which can add for some people another difficulty : not only they have to deal with changing unhealthy eating patterns they have learned since a young age, but they can also tend to use an unhealthy way of dealing with negative emotions, which reinforces the weight problem on the long term. It is called emotional eating, and this phenomenon consists in using problematic eating behaviors in order to deal with negative emotions.
Finally, as stigmatization about weight is psychologically very difficult to deal with and has very negative issues, our society in general should change its mind about obesity, and more generally about body appearance. In the article, it is said that the most important thing is to be healthy, and not to look thin or to fit in certain pants sizes, which is still difficult to consider for a lot of people. Indeed, to change unhealthy behaviors the most important thing is not to judge, but to recognize that the overweighted person is more than just a number on the scale or a pants size. Changing minds is the most important thing along this battle against obesity, as a good self-esteem is the driving force that allows people to be able to slowly induce good changes in their lives, in order to be capable to keep all these healthy behaviors at all ages.
How not to talk to a child who is overweight, by Perri Klass for the New York Times.
