Childhood Obesity and Weight Stigma: A Public Health Nutrition Approach

Abstract

Poor understanding of obesity, its causes and consequences contribute to weight-related stigma in the UK. Children’s understanding of obesity shapes their views and perceptions towards obesity as a disease, body image, and weight stigma behaviours. Exploring children’s and adolescents’ knowledge, perceptions and views of obesity, weight stigma, and nutrition is essential to establishing effective health promotion programmes that cater to young people’s needs, understanding and perspectives. Successful programmes also need continuous monitoring and evaluation, which are currently lacking in the UK. Perceptions and views around obesity among the public vary in different cultures and among healthcare professionals. These different perspectives lead to debates on defining, managing and treating obesity. Weight stigma research in adults tends to focus on weight stigma due to the poor understanding of obesity both among the public (especially women of white ethnicity) and healthcare professionals rather than children and adolescents. This thesis uses systematic reviews and a mixed-methods approach to explore weight stigma across the age spectrum, including children, adolescents and adults. Furthermore, the research investigates children’s and adolescents’ views on obesity and nutrition knowledge. Study 1 systematically reviewed existing observational, quantitative and qualitative studies focusing on the sources, frequency and implications of weight stigma on children’s and adolescents’ mental health, well-being and eating behaviours. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses (PRISMA) were followed for study selection, screening and data extraction. Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis (SWiM) guidelines were applied to report the synthesis and results. The Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Twenty observational studies were included in the final text analysis. Synthesised evidence highlighted that bullying and victimisation play a fundamental role in developing and perpetuating weight-related stigma. Weight-related bullying was correlated with participants’ low self-esteem. Most of the included studies (N=15/20) were of fair quality (average score 5 to 8), although two were of poor quality (average score 0 to 4), and most of the quality criteria were not met. One of the main gaps identified during the literature search in Study 1 was children and adolescents were poorly represented in the studies, with an overemphasis on white adult women. After identifying existing gaps in the literature (e.g., the overemphasis on recruiting white women), Studies 2, 3 and 4 were developed to explore underrepresented groups and gain a deeper understanding of their views and opinions of obesity and weight stigma. Children’s and adolescents’ views and opinions of obesity and nutrition knowledge were explored in Study 2, using a cross-sectional questionnaire and phone interviews. The questionnaire was structured in six sections, exploring sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, views and perceptions of obesity, nutrition knowledge, general health, and eating habits and lifestyle. Online interviews followed a narrative focusing on obesity knowledge and experience, obesity perception and the relationship between nutrition and obesity. Study 2 recruited a total of n=317 participants, 54% boys, 72% White/British, with a median age of 16 years (interquartile range (IQR) 15- 18). There was an overall lack of understanding of obesity and its causes and consequences. There was also a lack of consensus and agreement about whether obesity is a sign of disease, a disease, or merely a body shape. There was agreement that obesity can be a personal responsibility (median=4: likely, IQR 3: neutral – 4: likely). Food knowledge was low, with 83% correctly answering three questions or fewer out of six. Although participants reported and believed that they knew what obesity was, most participants linked obesity to body image and placed the responsibility of having obesity on the individuals or their parents. This can lead to increased stigmatising behaviours and isolation of children and adolescents with obesity. Proper education about obesity is imperative to help support children in understanding the general concepts behind obesity’s complexity as a disease. Study 3 used a cross-sectional questionnaire and phone interviews to explore weight stigma and its implications on weight stigma attitudes and body image perceptions in children. In Study 3 (n=667, 62% boys, 70% White/British, median age 16 years (IQR 15-18)), 50% of participants who experienced weight stigma had a BMI ≥30 kg/m². Almost two-thirds of participants who experienced weight stigma (n=259) said it happened at local community places (e.g., clubs, during extracurricular activities) (n=149, 58%). Over a quarter (n=67,26%) reported that it was extremely harsh. Participants who self-reported having obesity (n=214) experienced more weight stigma (n=114, 53%) than those who believed they have overweight (n=87, 41%) or underweight (n=13, 6%). More than half of the sample (n=408, 61%) were dissatisfied with their body image. Most participants who self-reported having obesity were dissatisfied with their body image, demonstrating a significant relationship between self-reported weight problems ‘underweight, overweight, obesity’ and body image satisfaction levels ‘dissatisfied, neutral and satisfied’". In summary, unsurprisingly, most participants who reported weight stigma had a BMI ≥30 kg/m2. Interestingly, more boys than girls who reported experiencing weight stigma believed there was weight stigma in society. To better understand the contribution and impact of childhood lived experiences of weight stigma on adult perceptions and beliefs around overweight and obesity, Study 4 employed similar methods to Study 3. In Study 4 (n=738, 52% men, 76% White/British, 39% BMI ≥30 kg/m2, median age=26 years (IQR=24-31)), less than a quarter of participants had experienced weight stigma as children (n=154, 21%). More women (n=108/154, 70%) experienced weight stigma during childhood than men (n=46/154, 30%, p≤0.001). Participants were mostly undecided about whether obesity is a disease (median=3: undecided, IQR=1: strongly disagree – 3: undecided). Experiencing weight stigma in childhood was positively associated with parents reporting their children’s weight stigma experiences. Parents dissatisfied with their body image (n=62) were more likely to be dissatisfied with their children’s body image (n=23/62, 37%) than satisfied (n=17/62, 24%). Understanding and awareness of obesity are essential in developing public health strategies and health education programmes that are child-oriented and specific to children and adolescents regarding location and intervention tools. The findings in this thesis highlight the negative impact of weight stigma on children and adolescents' physical and mental health. Moreover, a poor understanding of obesity was evident in this research. The work of this research is beneficial in informing programs explicitly targeting the gaps explored and found. This thesis attempts to improve the knowledge of public and academic domains in elements surrounding perceptions, views, and attitudes regarding obesity and weight stigma, the reasonings behind perceptions, and strategies to address obesity stigmatising behaviour.