ABSTRACT
Societal weight stigma is a salient aspect of the lived experience of obesity. People with higher body weight face negative weight-based stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination in multiple societal settings, including employment, healthcare, educational institutions, and the media. Sources of weight stigma are numerous, with family members, healthcare providers, and classmates among the most prevalent perpetrators. These stigmatizing experiences are harmful to both emotional well-being and physical health. Consequences include psychological distress (e.g., depression, anxiety, poor body image, substance use, and suicidality), maladaptive eating behaviors (e.g., binge eating, disordered eating, unhealthy weight control behaviors), lower physical activity, increased physiological reactivity (e.g., elevated cortisol levels), and weight gain. In the absence of societal efforts to combat weight stigma, many people internalize stigmatization, engaging in self-blame, which incurs additional consequences for health. Collectively, the current evidence underscores the importance of addressing weight stigma as both a public health issue and a social injustice, warranting stigma-reduction intervention at multiple levels. This chapter summarizes this literature, highlighting key findings and identifying priorities for initiatives to tackle this pervasive societal problem.
