Psychological Pathway from Obesity-Related Stigma to Anxiety via Internalized Stigma and Self-Esteem among Adolescents in Taiwan

Chung-Ying Lin, Meng-Che Tsai, Chih-Hsiang Liu, Yi-Ching Lin, Yi-Ping Hsieh and Carol Strong
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Chung-Ying Lin: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
Meng-Che Tsai: Department of Pediatrics, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 700, Taiwan
Chih-Hsiang Liu: Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 700, Taiwan
Yi-Ching Lin: Department of Early Childhood and Family Education, College of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei 100, Taiwan
Yi-Ping Hsieh: Department of Social Work, College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA
Carol Strong: Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 700, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-9

Abstract: The objective of this research was to examine the pathway from public stigma, to perceived stigma, to depression in adolescents via internalized stigma. Adolescents in grade 7 through 9 from a junior high school in Changhua County in Taiwan completed self-administered surveys from March to July in 2018. Adolescents were asked questions regarding depressive symptoms, obesity-related perceived stigma, and internalized stigma. Structural equation modeling was used to fit the pathway model. The pathway was first analyzed with the full sample and then stratified by actual and perceived weight status. Our final analytic sample consisted of 464 adolescents. The pathway model suggested an acceptable model fit. Perceived weight stigma (PWS) was significantly associated with internalized stigma regardless of actual or self-perceived weight status. Internalized stigma was significantly associated with anxiety for both actual (? = 0.186) and self-perceived nonoverweight (non-OW) participants (? = 0.170) but not for overweight (OW) participants (neither actual nor self-perceived). For OW adolescents, perceived weight stigma was associated with anxiety. However, the internalization process did not exist. It may be that the influence of perceived weight stigma is larger than internalized stigma on anxiety. It may also be that the level of internalization was not yet high enough to result in anxiety.

Keywords: overweight; stigma; anxiety; internalized stigma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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