Children & the Stigma of Obesity -
Study
Obesity Study - Aim
The prevalence of childhood obesity more than doubled in the period from
1961 to 2001. We replicated a 1961 study of stigma in childhood obesity
to see what effect this increased prevalence has had on this stigma.
Obesity Study - Research Methods
Participants included 458 5th and 6th-grade children attending upper-middle
and lower-middle income U.S. public schools. Children ranked six drawings
of same-sex children with obesity, various disabilities, or no disability
("healthy"), in order of how well they liked each child.
Obesity Study - Results
Children in both the present and the 1961 study liked the drawing of the
obese child least. The obese child was liked significantly less in the
present study than in 1961. Girls liked the obese child less than boys
did. Children ranked the healthy child highest and significantly higher
than in 1961. The difference in liking between the healthy and obese child
was currently 40.8 percent greater than in 1961.
Obesity Study - Issues
Stigmatization of obesity by children appears to have increased over the
last 40 years.
Source: Rutgers University - Pennsylvania.
2001
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