Two sides of weight bias in adolescent binge-eating disorder: Adolescents' perceptions and maternal attitudes.

Abstract

Adolescents with binge-eating disorder (BED) are suffering from weight teasing and, as found in adult BED, are likely to internalize weight bias. Weight teasing by mothers accounts for psychopathology in overweight (OW), but stigmatization sources are largely unknown in BED. This study sought to address weight bias in adolescents with OW and BED by examining adolescents' perceived parental weight teasing and weight bias internalization in relation to their eating disorder psychopathology and maternal stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs. Adolescents with OW and BED (BED; n = 40) were compared to a socio-demographically matched group with OW only and a normal-weight control group (NW; each n = 25). They filled out the Perception of Teasing Scale, with parents as the source of teasing, the Weight Bias Internalization Scale and the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire. Their mothers filled out the Attitudes Toward and Beliefs about Obese Persons Scales. Significantly higher perceived parental weight teasing and weight bias internalization were found in BED compared to OW and NW. Maternal stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs did not differ significantly between groups and were not correlated with adolescents' perceptions of being stigmatized. Perceived parental weight teasing was associated with adolescents' eating disorder psychopathology, however, this association was fully mediated by weight bias internalization. Results indicate that adolescents with OW and BED perceive weight teasing in families. As we found no significant association between adolescents' perceptions of being stigmatized and maternal stigmatizing attitudes, future research should examine parent-child interaction or implicit measures of stigmatizing attitudes.