AI Article Synopsis

  • The study investigates weight bias internalization (WBI) and its negative health effects specifically in Chinese gender-diverse individuals, a group that has been understudied compared to cisgender individuals from Western societies.
  • A survey of 410 participants showed a significant correlation between higher WBI and increased body shame, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and poor physical and mental health.
  • The findings suggest that WBI is a critical factor linked to eating and body image issues, indicating a need for more research to understand its implications in this population.

Article Abstract

Objective: Weight bias internalization (WBI) is a robust, positive correlate of negative health outcomes; however, this evidence base primarily reflects cisgender individuals from Western cultural contexts. Gender-diverse individuals from non-Western cultural contexts (e.g., China) are at potentially high risk for WBI. Yet, no research has examined WBI and associated negative health consequences in this historically underrepresented population.

Method: A cross-sectional, online survey sampled Chinese gender-diverse individuals (N = 410, M  = 22.33 years). Variables were self-reported, including demographics, WBI, body shame, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, physical and mental health status, and gender minority stress (e.g., internalized cisgenderism). Analyses included correlations and multiple hierarchical regressions.

Results: Pearson bivariate correlations demonstrated associations between higher WBI and more eating and body image disturbances and poor physical and mental health. After adjusting for age, BMI, gender identity, and gender minority stress, higher WBI was uniquely and positively associated with higher body shame, higher body dissatisfaction, higher disordered eating, and poor physical and mental health. Notably, WBI accounted for more unique variance in eating and body image disturbances (13%-25% explained by WBI) than physical and mental health (1%-4% explained by WBI).

Discussion: While replication with longitudinal and experimental designs is needed to speak to the temporal dynamics and causality, our findings identify WBI as a unique, meaningful correlate of eating and body image disturbances in Chinese gender-diverse adults.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eat.24278DOI Listing

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