The Adverse Effect of Weight Stigma on the Well-Being of Medical Students with Overweight or Obesity: Findings from a National Survey

BACKGROUND

The stigma of obesity is a common and overt social bias. Negative attitudes and derogatory humor about overweight/obese individuals are commonplace among health care providers and medical students. As such, medical school may be particularly threatening for students who are overweight or obese.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of our study was to assess the frequency that obese/overweight students report being stigmatized, the degree to which stigma is internalized, and the impact of these factors on their well-being.

DESIGN

We performed cross-sectional analysis of data from the Medical Student Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study (CHANGES) survey.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 4,687 first-year medical students (1,146 overweight/obese) from a stratified random sample of 49 medical schools participated in the study.

MAIN MEASURES

Implicit and explicit self-stigma were measured with the Implicit Association Test and Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire. Overall health, anxiety, depression, fatigue, self-esteem, sense of mastery, social support, loneliness, and use of alcohol/drugs to cope with stress were measured using previously validated scales.

KEY RESULTS

Among obese and overweight students, perceived stigma was associated with each measured component of well-being, including anxiety (beta coefficient b] = 0.18; standard error SE] = 0.03; p < 0.001) and depression (b = 0.20; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001). Among the subscales of the explicit self-stigma measure, dislike of obese people was associated with several factors, including depression (b = 0.07; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001), a lower sense of mastery (b = −0.10; SE = 0.02; p < 0.001), and greater likelihood of using drugs or alcohol to cope with stress (b = 0.05; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001). Fear of becoming fat was associated with each measured component of well-being, including lower body esteem (b = −0.25; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001) and less social support (b = −0.06; SE = 0.01; p < 0.001). Implicit self-stigma was not consistently associated with well-being factors. Compared to normal-weight/underweight peers, overweight/obese medical students had worse overall health (b = −0.33; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001) and body esteem (b = −0.70; SE = 0.02; p < 0.001), and overweight/obese female students reported less social support (b = −0.12; SE = 0.03; p < 0.001) and more loneliness (b = 0.22; SE = 0.04; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Perceived and internalized weight stigma may contribute to worse well-being among overweight/obese medical students.KEY WORDS: Medical students, Stigmatization, Psychological stress, Obesity, Body weightTo succeed academically and professionally, medical students must withstand the stress of medical school, including learning new and complex material, meeting faculty expectations, interacting with patients, making new friends and colleagues, and assimilating the culture of medicine.^1–3 Ability to cope with stress is important to health and professional development, as medical student stress is linked to burnout, substance use, mental health problems, suicidal thoughts, and poor academic performance.^1,4–6 Stress also disproportionately affects female medical students, who may then be more vulnerable to these outcomes.^5,7–9Self-esteem, physical and emotional health, fatigue, sense of mastery, and social support all affect vulnerability to stress.^10,11 Members of stigmatized groups, including overweight/obese individuals, may face additional stress.^12–17 Experiences of weight-related stigma can have negative effects on self-esteem, health, and well-being.^{12–14,17–23} Overweight/obese individuals may also be self-stigmatized, i.e., exhibit negative, self-deprecating attitudes about themselves, which may worsen their overall well-being.^24–26These additional stressors may challenge students’ ability to cope in the competitive medical school environment. Although little is known about the experience of these medical students, several studies have documented strong anti-fat attitudes among health care providers and trainees,^27–31 and suggest that overweight/obese individuals are a common target of derogatory humor among medical students.^32,33The present study aimed to assess whether stigma or self-stigma is associated with factors that affect vulnerability to stress among overweight and obese medical students. We hypothesized that 1) these medical students, and female students in particular, have worse self-reported outcomes than normal-weight/underweight medical students on factors affecting vulnerability to stress; and that 2) among overweight/obese students, experiencing more stigma/self-stigma is associated with worse outcomes.