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Internalized Weight Stigma, Psychological Well-Being, and Sleep in Women

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Abstract

Background

Many women internalize negative attitudes regarding body shape and size because of the societal standards for women’s ideal body shapes and sizes. Internalized weight stigma is related to poorer physical and psychological health. A growing body of research has documented the links between other forms of internalized stigma (e.g., HIV-stigma) and poor sleep quality; however, little research examines the links between internalized weight stigma and sleep or the mechanisms that explain this relationship. Internalized weight stigma may be associated with poor sleep through increases in psychological distress. This study hypothesized that the links between internalized weight stigma and sleep would be mediated by higher levels of depression and anxiety.

Methods

About 257 women were recruited via social media, word of mouth, and an undergraduate participant pool. Participants completed an online survey assessing various aspects of weight stigma and health through self-report questionnaires. Most women were non-Hispanic White (86.8%) and had a mean age of 31.40.

Results

The indirect effects of internalized weight stigma on poorer global sleep quality and daily disturbances through depression and anxiety were significant. In contrast, depressive symptoms but not anxiety explained the links between internalized weight stigma and perceived sleep quality and neither depressive symptoms nor anxiety explained the link between internalized weight stigma and sleep efficiency.

Conclusions

Internalized weight stigma is linked to poorer sleep quality, and these links may be explained by psychological well-being. Understanding the mechanisms by which internalized weight stigma is associated with sleep quality can inform the psychological interventions employed.

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Notes

  1. This model with global sleep quality was also tested without covariates and results were consistent with the model tested with covariates.

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Funding

The project was self-funded using faculty development funds from EF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, Miami University, Hamilton, OH, 45011, USA

    Michael P. Craven

  2. School of Psychological Sciences, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Erin M. Fekete

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  1. Michael P. Craven
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  2. Erin M. Fekete
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Contributions

Both MC and EF were involved in data analysis and writing portions of the manuscript. EF was responsible for the study design and data collection.

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Correspondence to Michael P. Craven.

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Ethics Approval

The study was approved as exempt from IRB review by the Human Subject Research Protection Program at the University of Indianapolis.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Craven, M.P., Fekete, E.M. Internalized Weight Stigma, Psychological Well-Being, and Sleep in Women. Int.J. Behav. Med. 29, 199–208 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-021-10008-y

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