Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;29(12):1994-2012.
doi: 10.1002/oby.23274. Epub 2021 Nov 7.

Is weight stigma associated with physical activity? A systematic review

Rebecca L Pearl  1   2 , Thomas A Wadden  2 , John M Jakicic  3
Affiliations

Is weight stigma associated with physical activity? A systematic review

Rebecca L Pearl et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Weight stigma is associated with impaired health, attributed in part to reductions in health-promoting behaviors. This review analyzed evidence of the association between weight stigma and physical activity (PA) in adults and youth.

Methods: Three databases were searched for terms related to weight stigma and PA. Eligible studies reported the quantitative association between at least one measure of weight stigma and one behavioral measure of PA.

Results: A total of 38 studies met eligibility criteria. Of the 29 studies of adults, 3 used objective PA measures, and 79% used an observational, cross-sectional design. Findings of the relationship between weight stigma and PA were mixed. Everyday weight discrimination and internalizing weight stigma were associated with reduced PA in most studies. Several studies found indirect, and not direct, effects of weight stigma on PA when analyses included other individual-level factors. In the nine studies of youth, two used objective PA measures, all were observational, and only one study was longitudinal. Most youth studies found a relationship between weight-based teasing and reduced PA.

Conclusions: Weight teasing, everyday discrimination, and internalization were associated with reduced PA. However, associations were inconsistent and often indirect. Future studies should include objective PA measures with larger samples and longitudinal assessments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram for study selection
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Crandall CS. Prejudice against fat people: ideology and self-interest. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994;66:882–94. - PubMed
    1. Pearl RL. Weight bias and stigma: Public health implications and structural solutions. Soc Issues Policy Rev. 2018;12(1):146–82.
    1. Spahlholz J, Baer N, Konig HH, Riedel-Heller S, Luck-Sikorski C. Obesity and discrimination: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Obes Rev. 2016;17:43–55. - PubMed
    1. Vartanian LR, Pinkus RT, Smyth JM. The phenomenology of weight stigma in everyday life. J Context Behav Sci. 2017;3:196–202.
    1. Pont SJ, Puhl R, Cook SR, Slusser W, The Obesity Society. Stigma experienced by children and adolescents with obesity. Pediatrics. 2017;140(6). - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources