Background: Over one third of young Australian women are overweight or obese, and recruiting young women to weight management programs is difficult. One reason for this may be their experience of weight bias internalisation (WBI), that is, the degradation of self-based on weight, which results from exposure to negative attitudes and stereotypes of overweight and obese individuals. This study aimed to explore the relationships between WBI, self-esteem and body attitudes in young women (18-25y) who are overweight or obese.
Methods: Participants recruited (n=29) from an urban capital city undertook anthropometric measurements and completed the Weight Bias Internalisation scale, Rosenburg self-Esteem Scale and Body Attitudes Questionnaire.
Results: Bivariate correlations showed that body mass index (BMI) and weight, but not waist circumference, were significantly and positively associated with WBI (p<0.05 for both). WBI was also significantly associated with lower self-esteem and negative body attitudes (lower attractiveness, greater self-disparagement, feeling fat and salience of weight) (p<0.05 for all). Conversely, anthropometric measures were not significantly associated with self-esteem or body attitudes scores.
Conclusions: WBI is present in young women with obesity, and is positively associated with BMI and weight. WBI was also positively associated with low self-esteem and negative body attitudes. Existing research on WBI and weight loss, while promising, is limited to older adults. The results underscore the importance of WBI as a focus of future research and clinical intervention in weight management for young women.