“The most hurtful thing I’ve ever experienced”: A qualitative examination of the nature of experiences of weight stigma by family members

Family members are some of the most common sources of weight stigma reported by youth and adults with higher body weight; however, little is known about the ways in which weight stigma manifests from different family members. To better understand the nature of weight stigma by family members, the current study qualitatively examined women’s retrospective accounts of these experiences. Participants were 410 U.S. adult women engaged in a commercial weight management program who described an experience of weight stigma by a family member in response to an open-ended survey question.

Full citation: Lawrence S.E., Puhl R.M., Schwartz M., Watson R.J. & Foster G.D. (2022) “The most hurtful thing I’ve ever experienced”: A qualitative examination of the nature of experiences of weight stigma by family members. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100073