Investigating the Self-Stigma and Quality of Life for Overweight/Obese Children in Hong Kong: a Preliminary Study

Abstract

Overweight (OW) children are likely to internalize common weight bias and developed weight-related self-stigma (or self-stigma in short). Also, OW children tended to have poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with higher level of self-stigma associated with poorer HRQoL. However, the aforementioned findings have yet been investigated in the East. This study aimed to test the differences of self-stigma and HRQoL between OW and non-OW children, and to examine the correlations between self-stigma and HRQoL in a Hong Kong sample. OW children (n = 50, Mage ± SD = 9.36 ± 1.17) and non-OW children (n = 50, Mage ± SD = 9.73 ± 1.28) completed questionnaires that measure self-stigma (Weight Bias Internalization Scale [WBIS] and Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire [WSSQ]) and HRQoL (child-reported Kid-KINDL and Sizing Me Up [SMU]). All parents completed parent-reported Kid-KINDL and Sizing Them Up (STU) that measure HRQoL of their children. Compared with non-OW children, OW children had higher self-stigma in WBIS (p = 0.003) and WSSQ (p < 0.001); lower HRQoL in SMU (p < 0.001) and STU (p < 0.001). More significant correlations with stronger magnitude (r = −0.28 to −0.61) were shown between self-stigma and HRQoL in OW children than in non-OW children. This study showed that OW children had significantly higher self-stigma and lower HRQoL than did non-OW children in Hong Kong. Moreover, negative correlations between self-stigma and HRQoL were found in OW children. Future studies may want to investigate whether reducing self-stigma of OW children can improve their HRQoL.