title: Unpacking the psychological weight of weight stigma: A rejection-expectation pathway.
abstract: The present research tested the hypothesis that the negative effects of weight stigma among higher body-weight individuals are mediated by expectations of social rejection. Women and men who varied in objective body-weight (body mass index; BMI) gave a speech describing why they would make a good date. Half believed that a potential dating partner would see a videotape of their speech (weight seen) and half believed that a potential dating partner would listen to an audiotape of their speech (weight unseen). Among women, but not men, higher body-weight predicted increased expectations of social rejection, decreased executive control resources, decreased self-esteem, increased self-conscious emotions and behavioral displays of self-consciousness when weight was seen but not when weight was unseen. As predicted, higher body-weight women reportedincreasedexpectations of social rejection when weight was seen (versus unseen), which in turn predicted decreased self-esteem, increased self-conscious emotions, and increased stress. In contrast, lower body-weight women reporteddecreasedexpectations of social rejection when weight was seen (versus unseen), which in turn predicted increased self-esteem, decreased self-conscious emotions, and decreased stress. Men's responses were largely unaffected by body-weight or visibility, suggesting that a dating context may not be identity threatening for higher body-weight men. Overall, the present research illuminates a rejection-expectation pathway by which weight stigma undermines higher body-weight women's health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blodorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Major
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hunger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miller
keywords: gender; obesity; social identity threat; social rejection; weight stigma