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
. 2025 Aug 6;25(1):2681.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23702-3.

Weight stigma in adolescents: sex differences, prevalence, emotional impact, and associations with BMI increases - a retrospective cohort study

Vivi Just-Nørregaard  1   2   3 , Pernille Andreasen  4 , Jens M Bruun  5   4   6 , Johan Hviid Andersen  7   8   5 , Trine Nøhr Winding  7   8   5
Affiliations

Weight stigma in adolescents: sex differences, prevalence, emotional impact, and associations with BMI increases - a retrospective cohort study

Vivi Just-Nørregaard et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Weight stigma is an important public health concern due to its association with increased stress and adverse health outcomes, including poor metabolic health and weight gain. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and emotional impact of perceived weight stigma (PWS) during adolescence and its association with weight changes into young adulthood, with a focus on sex differences. We hypothesised that a high frequency of PWS during adolescence correlates with an increased emotional impact of PWS, that there are variations in PWS between sexes, and that PWS is associated with increased weight gain for both sexes.

Methods: A total of 2,466 young adults from Denmark were recruited for this cohort study. Participants recalled PWS from ages 15-20 via self-reported questionnaires at the ages 32/38. Self-reported weight and height were collected at age 21 and again at 32/38, allowing for calculation of BMI changes during follow-up (n = 1,772). For analysis, weight change was operationalised as a binary outcome: large BMI increases (above the 80th percentile) vs. all other. Logistic regression was used to examine the sex-specific frequency and emotional impact of PWS alongside BMI increases.

Results: Females reported significantly higher frequencies of PWS than males (0.5; 95% CI [0.27, 0.73]; p < 0.001). While females generally experienced higher emotional impact, males who reported high levels of emotional impact from stigma exhibited comparable risks of large BMI increases (aOR: females: 2.9; [1.9; 4.3], males: 2.4 [1.4; 4.3]). Contrary to our hypothesis, only modest correlations were found between the frequency of PWS and emotional impact (r = 0.31-0.61).

Conclusions: The study confirms that weight stigma during adolescence is associated with significant weight increases in young adulthood in both sexes. Although females report more frequent and emotionally impactful experiences, males showed similar adverse BMI increases. These findings underscore the importance of considering sex-specific patterns in future research on long-term consequences of weight stigma.

Keywords: Adolescence; Emotional impact; Sex differences; Weight change; Weight stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Central Denmark Region Health Research Ethics Committees with reference number 1-10-72-257-20 and the Danish Data Protection Agency (2017 − 899/ https://doi.org/10.0101/2015-57-000 ). All data collection waves have been conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. According to Danish Law (Act on Research Ethics Review of Health Research Projects), available at www.nvk.dk/english/act-on-research , written consent was not required for this study as it relied solely on questionnaire and register data. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: Jens M Bruun has been part of speaker’s bureaus and/or received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, MSD/Merck, and Novo Nordisk. The remaining authors of this manuscript declare that they have no conflicting interest to disclose. We confirm that this research was conducted objectively and impartially, and no financial or non-financial interests have influenced the design, execution, or reporting of this study. This work is solely driven by the pursuit of scientific knowledge and the advancement of our field.The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow of participants into the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Females - graphical illustrations of the distributions of weight stigma frequencies and emotional impact. The plots include females who reported experiencing PWS. The size of each dot represents the number of participants who have reported the combination of the given frequency and emotional impact. However, dot sizes are not comparable between plots. ‘Missing’ dots on the emotional impact axis indicate participants who reported a PWS frequency but did not provide emotional impact information
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Males - graphical illustrations of the distributions of weight stigma frequencies and emotional impact. The plots include males who reported experiencing PWS. The size of each dot represents the number of participants who have reported the combination of the given frequency and emotional impact. However, dot sizes are not comparable between plots. ‘Missing’ dots on the emotional impact axis indicate participants who reported a PWS frequency but did not provide emotional impact information
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Puhl RM, Heuer CA. The stigma of obesity: A review and update. Obes (Silver Spring). 2009;17(5):941–64. - PubMed
    1. Pont SJ, Puhl R, Cook SR, Slusser W. Stigma experienced by children and adolescents with obesity. Pediatrics. 2017;140(6):e20173034. - PubMed
    1. Link BG, Phelan JC. Conceptualizing stigma. Ann Rev Sociol. 2001;27(27, 2001):363–85.
    1. Wu YK, Berry DC. Impact of weight stigma on physiological and psychological health outcomes for overweight and obese adults: A systematic review. J Adv Nurs. 2018;74(5):1030–42. - PubMed
    1. Puhl R, Schwartz M, Brownell K. Impact of perceived consensus on stereotypes about obese people: A new approach for reducing Bias. Health Psychology: Official J Div Health Psychol Am Psychol Association. 2005;24:517–25. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources