Self-Esteem in Obese Women

In a society in which appearance is valued and being thin is glorified, women experience a great deal of pressure regarding their appearance, shape, and weight. Beginning in adolescence, women have been found to be more concerned with their body weight and appearance than men, and researchers have found that women are more concerned with eating, weight, appearance, [Page 679]and have lower appearance self-esteem than men at all ages. Many posit that this pressure must be felt to a greater extent by women who are overweight, and it has been suggested that the self-esteem of overweight and especially obese women suffer accordingly. The widespread stigmatization experienced by obese individuals in general and obese women in particular further corroborate the assumption that being obese takes a toll on the self-concept of women. However, findings on the levels of self-esteem in obese women are mixed, and research suggests that the relationship between obesity and self-esteem in women is more complicated than many assume.

It appears that from an early age, overweight and obese women are subjected to increased degradation and stigmatization, and some suggest that these early experiences may lay the groundwork for lower levels of self-esteem later in life. A study conducted by Neumark-Sztainer and colleagues found that in a population of overweight adolescent girls, the majority reported offensive comments and differential treatment/rejection as a result of being overweight.

Such comments included weight-related teasing, joking, and name-calling which most girls reported began in elementary school and continued into middle school. These comments were reported to be made by family members, peers, and strangers and occurred most commonly at school and home. Teasing has been found to predict low body satisfaction, increased depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and attempts, and low self-esteem in both boys and girls. Girls, however, who researchers believe experience greater pressure in regard to appearance, have been found to express the most distress from weight and appearance related teasing.

In addition, a study conducted by Pearce et al. found that compared to normal-weight girls, obese girls report more experiences of relational victimization, which is victimization using interpersonal connections which often results in social marginalization such as exclusion from social events. These findings suggest that obese girls may be subjected both to overt victimization, such as teasing, and to more subtle victimization, such as exclusion, both of which can be damaging to the self-concept and self-esteem of an adolescent.

A research study on adult obese women found that women who reported greater frequency of being teased about their weight and shape in their youth had a more negative evaluation of their appearance and a greater degree of body dissatisfaction as an adult. Interestingly, this study found that low self-esteem was related to poor body image but not to teasing history. Specifically, women with higher levels of self-esteem reported more positive evaluation of their appearance, and women with lower levels of self-esteem had higher levels of body dissatisfaction. This study also reported that women who had been obese since childhood or adolescence reported more childhood teasing about their appearance and weight/size, greater adulthood body dissatisfaction, and lower self-esteem than women who became obese as adults.

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