Weight acceptance versus body dissatisfaction: Effects on stigma, perceived self-esteem, and perceived psychopathology

• Stigma associated with weight acceptance was evaluated.
• Compared to non-accepting targets, weight-accepting targets were less stigmatized.
• Weight-accepting targets were perceived as having better self-esteem.
• Weight-accepting targets were thought to have better mental health.

ObjectiveIt is unknown whether weight acceptance or body dissatisfaction impact anti-fat stigma. Therefore, this study utilized a 2 × 2 between-subject experimental design to examine of the relationship between body acceptance and stigmatization.MethodParticipants were university undergraduates (N = 394, 70% women, mean age = 20.8 years, mean BMI = 23.61 kg/m2) who were randomly assigned to read vignettes describing an obese or normal-weight target described as either accepting or not accepting of her weight. Participants completed measures of stigma (the Fat Phobia Scale (FPS), the modified Anti-fat Attitudes Scale (AFA)), perceived self-esteem (assessed with the modified Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE)), and perceived psychopathology.ResultsAnalyses revealed significant main effects for acceptance. Notably, targets who accepted their weight were less stigmatized on the FPS (F(1, 354) = 66.82, p < .001) and the AFA willpower subscale (F(1, 373) = 37.90, p < .001), and they were perceived as having better self esteem (F(1, 371) = 166.16, p < .001) and fewer psychological problems (F(1, 381) = 123.19, p < .001) than those who did not accept their weight.ConclusionResults from this study suggest that size acceptance, even when practiced by obese targets, was significantly less stigmatized than body dissatisfaction and associated with better perceived self esteem and mental health.