Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by Green College as part of its “Health and Population Series”. As a stigmatizing condition, obesity may lead to the internalization of devalued labels and threats to emotional well-being. Modified labeling theory suggests that the effects of stigma may outlive direct manifestations of the discredited characteristic itself. This talk considers whether obesity in late childhood and early adolescence has effects on depressive symptomatology later in adolescence, and, if so, if the effects are mediated by fat labeling from family and friends. Using longitudinal data from the National Growth and Health Study on 2206 black and white girls, they estimated path models to test the direct effects of obesity and the indirect effects of labeling on CESD score. The researchers found that obesity in late childhood was significantly associated with depressive symptoms in late adolescence and that the effect was completely mediated by parent labeling. Further, obesity in middle adolescence was also associated with later depressive symptoms, but the effect was mediated more by friend labeling than parent labeling, suggesting that girls may be vulnerable to different network members during different developmental periods.
UBC Library Resources
Loftus, J., Kelly, B., & Mustillo, S. (2013). Predictors of entry into age-discordant relationships among adolescent girls. Deviant Behavior, 34(7), 513-533. doi:10.1080/01639625.2012.735905. [Link]
Morton, P., Mustillo, S., & Ferraro, K. (2014). Does childhood misfortune raise the risk of acute myocardial infarction in adulthood? Social Science & Medicine, 104, 133-141. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.026. [Link]
Mustillo, S. A., Budd, K., & Hendrix, K. (2013). Obesity, labeling, and psychological distress in late-childhood and adolescent black and white girls: The distal effects of stigma. Social Psychology Quarterly, 76(3), 268-289. doi:10.1177/0190272513495883. [Link]
Mustillo, S. A., Hendrix, K. L., & Schafer, M. H. (2012). Do the psychological effects of stigma linger after obese adolescents transition to normal weight? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 53(1), 1. [Link]
UBC Research Guides
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