Études & articles scientifiques

Les recherches et articles scientifiques documentant les effets de la grossophobie sur les personnes qui en sont victimes sont de plus en plus nombreux.

L’équipe de Grossophobie.ca – Infos & référence a tout mis en oeuvre pour offrir en un seul endroit une compilation d’études et d’articles crédibles et pertinents provenant du travail de chercheurs, d’institutions et de publications réputées.

Cette page compte des liens vers du contenu en anglais, car il s’agit de la langue dans laquelle la plupart des études sur le sujet sont publiées.
De plus, le contenu présenté pourrait provenir de l’extérieur du Québec, notamment des États-Unis, du Royaume-Uni et de la France.

Les liens sont présentés en ordre chronologique de leur sortie, de la plus récente à la plus ancienne.


The Lancet Public Health (Vol. 4,  Issue 7, Jul. 1, 2019)
Addressing weight stigma: a timely call

Extrait : « As empirical evidence has demonstrated, similar to other health conditions, obesity is complex and has the same determinants (eg, genetic and environmental) as other health conditions such as cancer. However, framing and representations of obesity are simplistic, with an emphasis on blaming individuals and a consistent message that obesity is solely caused by eating too much and too little exercise and thus can easily and rapidly be reduced by moving more and eating less. This rhetoric, in addition to the pervasive stereotypes and misconceptions of obesity evident in obesity policy, campaigns, media, and education, has and continues to play an important role in the pervasiveness of weight stigma and discrimination that has been reported across the world. »


Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ – June 10, 2019)
Fat shaming is making people sicker and heavier

Extrait : « Studies show that exposure to weight bias triggers physiological and behavioural changes linked to poor metabolic health and increased weight gain. “You actually experience a form of stress,” Alberga explained. Cortisol spikes, self-control drops and the risk of binge eating increases, she said.
The more people are exposed to weight bias and discrimination, the more likely they are to gain weight and become obese, even if they were thin to begin with. They’re also more likely to die from any cause, regardless of their body mass index (BMI). »


Mental Health Foundation (Scotland) (publié le 13 mai 2019)
Body image: How we think and feel about our bodies

Extrait : « […] 34% of adults (28% of men and 40% of women) said they felt anxious and 35% said they felt depressed (25% of men and 45% of women) because of their body image. Just over one in eight (13% overall – 11% of men and 15% of women) experienced suicidal thoughts or feelings because of concerns about their body image. »


The Lancet Public Health (Vol. 4,  Issue 4, Apr. 1, 2019)
Addressing weight stigma

Extrait : « Weight stigma, also known as weight bias, is the discrimination, stereotyping, and social exclusion based on a person’s weight. Although obesity has become, unfortunately, more common, discrimination has not subsided. Whereas we now understand that an obesogenic environment has a substantial role in the development of obesity, the stereotypical perception that people with overweight and obesity are somehow responsible for their weight remains pervasive. »


CNN Business (publié le 3 janv. 2019)
One type of diversity we don’t talk about at work: Body size

Extrait : « Studies show that discrimination increases the higher a person’s body mass index. Obese or overweight people are often viewed as lacking self-control, which then translates to a lack of desirable leadership skills. As a result, they may be passed over for promotions or, in some cases, they may not get hired in the first place. »


North Dakota State University (Jan. 2019)
The Dark Effects of Weight Stigma: Weight Stigma, Suicide Risk, and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

Extrait : « For example, the rate of weight-based discrimination has risen by 66% between 1995 and 2005, a change that is believed to reflect changes in attitudes rather than increases in body size. […]
As mentioned before, society tends to idealize thinness (Thompson et al., 1999) and thus stigmatizes not being thin. It is possible that repeatedly being stigmatized for one’s weight increases the messages that one is not as valuable to society and lead to internalized stigma and feelings that one is not worthy. Feeling inadequate could lead one to feeling as if they are a burden, either on their loved ones or society in general, which may affect their suicide risk as predicted in the IPT. This may be compounded as often in stigmatizing campaigns, being in a higher weight body is cast as being a burden on society. »


Body Image (Vol. 27-Dec. 2018)
The psychological and physiological effects of interacting with an anti-fat peer (Abstract) (PDF complet)

Extrait : « […] weight stigma undermines the psychological well-being of higher body weight women, and does so by heightening anticipated rejection. This adds to a literature documenting the negative relationship between anticipating or fearing stigma and variety of mental and physical health outcomes […]. »


BMC Medicine (publié le 15 août 2018)
How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health

Extrait : « Indeed, eradicating weight stigma will likely improve the health of all individuals, regardless of their size, since the insidious effects of weight stigma reviewed herein are found independently of objective BMI [Body Mass Index], with many individuals with ‘normal’ BMI also falling prey to the health-harming processes brought about by weight stigmatization. »


The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (March 2018-Vol. 6)
Weight Stigma and Discrimination: A Call to the Media

Extrait : « Given that weight stigma attitudes predict discriminatory behaviours, the role of the media is deeply concerning. For the direct and indirect targets of weight stigma, such attitudes can have profound effects on their physical and mental health. The media portrayal of obesity – often stigmatising and inaccurate – is influential and insidious to popular belief. Yet publishers and editors rarely challenge this media content, and so a stream of derogatory articles floods into mainstream media. »


Manipulating practices – A critical physiotherapy reader (2018-Nordic Open Access Scholarly Publishing)
A critical perspective on stigma in physiotherapy: The example of weight stigma

Extrait : « People in this study described their experiences of discomfort when attending a physiotherapy clinic including: sitting on a chair that is too small for them; seeing health promotion posters of thin people on the walls; observing sporty-looking people exercising in the Pilates area; meeting the physiotherapist who (like in the epigraph) was thin and sporty-looking; feeling like their body was exposed to judgement when they undress or are observed; and being told that their condition was due to their weight. These types of experiences, where the person feels judged (stigmatised) for a particular characteristic, are known to negatively affect people, including causing them to have poorer physical and psychological health outcomes; exercising less; having more disordered eating; and avoiding health care appointments – effectively being denied healthcare […]. »


Organisation mondiale de la santé – bureau régional de l’Europe (publié en 2017)
Weight bias and obesity stigma: considerations for the WHO European Region 2017
(PDF complet)

Extrait : « Obesity stigma involves actions against people with obesity that can cause exclusion and marginalization, and lead to inequities – for example, when people with obesity do not receive adequate health care or when they are discriminated against in the workplace or in educational settings. »


Frontiers in Psychology (Dec. 2017)
Editorial: Obesity Stigma in Healthcare: Impacts on Policy, Practice, and Patients

Extrait : « First, we recommend that clinicians, researchers, health practitioners, exercise specialists and policy makers carefully avoid labeling higher weight patients with culturally stigmatizing terminology. While there may be diagnostic settings where more specific terminology is required, we support calls in this Research Topic for healthcare professionals to understand what terms are acceptable for their patients. For instance, in some cases the use of “higher weight” or “fat” might be acceptable for patients. It is therefore imperative that healthcare professionals establish the most acceptable terms to use with their patients to avoid potential disengagement and associated implications for the patient-practitioner relationship. Second, we call for researchers to develop effective and innovative interventions to sustainably reduce weight stigmatizing attitudes and practices. Work thus far is dominated by acute experimental studies; more translational research into practice-focused interventions is required. Third, and finally, that research and policy makers consider resources for engaging and supporting higher weight people and mandatory training of practitioners through a stigma-awareness raising lens, given the potential impact of these on the patient healthcare outcomes. »


Obesity (The Obesity Society Journal-Vol.25, No. 2-Feb. 2017)
Association between weight bias internalization and metabolic syndrome among treatment‐seeking individuals with obesity

Extrait : « The present findings contribute to the growing body of literature demonstrating the relationship between weight stigma and adverse physical health outcomes, once again contradicting a persistent argument that stigma motivates behavior change and improves health. »


Obesity (The Obesity Society Journal-Vol.25, No. 2-Feb. 2017)
Anxiety independently contributes to elevated inflammation in humans with obesity

Extrait : « The major and novel finding of this study is that anxiety is associated with elevated inflammation in persons with obesity beyond the level of inflammation attributable to obesity alone. Despite anxiety and depression levels having similar correlations with obesity, only anxiety levels remained significantly associated with inflammation in this sample of individuals with obesity. Furthermore, the persistent correlation between anxiety and inflammation was independent of BMI, in addition to age and sex. Our findings suggest that anxiety and BMI may have independent and additive effects in contributing to a proinflammatory state in human obesity. »


Les Affaires (publié le 8 juin 2016)
Un peu de surpoids peut-il nuire gravement à votre carrière?

Extrait : « «Ces personnes font indiscutablement face à une discrimination professionnelle, comme en atteste notre étude. D’où la nécessité d’une prise de conscience commune de ce grave problème, et mieux, de l’élaboration et de l’application de lois spécifiques à ce sujet, là où cela n’est pas encore le cas. Car, au-delà de la résolution de drames individuels, c’est l’ensemble du marché de l’emploi qui s’en portera mieux», estiment les huit chercheurs dans leur étude. »


Frontiers in Psychology (Vol. 7-May 2016)
Obesity Discrimination in the Recruitment Process: “You’re Not Hired!”

Extrait : « The current study provides evidence of obesity discrimination in the hiring process for employment, where across four workplaces that vary based on the physical demands of the job, obese candidates were perceived as less suitable compared with normal weight candidates and when the weight status of the candidate was not revealed. »


University of Exeter / The British Medical Journal (The BMJ-March 2016)
Short man or overweight woman? Your size could make you poorer

Extrait : « If a woman was a stone heavier (6.3kg) for no other reason than her genetics, this would lead to her having an income £1,500 less per year than a comparable woman of the same height who was a stone lighter. »


Défenseur des droits et de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT) (publié le 15 fév. 2016)
Baromètre sur la perception des discriminations dans l’emploi – « Le physique de l’emploi » (texte complet

Extrait : « Quand on examine l’effet spécifique du poids, de manière attendue, les personnes obèses rapportent plus que les autres avoir été discriminées à l’embauche du fait de leur apparence. Parmi elles, les femmes le sont beaucoup plus que les hommes. Ainsi, toutes choses égales par ailleurs, les femmes obèses rapportent 8 fois plus souvent que les femmes d’IMC normal avoir été discriminées à cause de leur apparence physique. Les hommes obèses le déclarent trois fois plus que les hommes de poids « normal » ».


Journal of Obesity & Eating Disorders (June 2016-Vol. 2, No. 1)
Obesity, Weight Stigma and Discrimination

Extrait : « There is a clear need for efforts to tackle the issue of weight stigma and discrimination in society. There have been calls for legal measures to address weight-based inequities in the same way as those based on other characteristics, such as age, sex and race, and recent surveys indicate substantial and growing support for policies and legislation prohibiting weight discrimination. As researchers in the field of obesity, we should lead by example and not only be respectful of participants in our studies but be conscious to avoid weight stigma in our writing. We should all be mindful of using people-first language for obesity, which puts individuals before the disease […]. For example, rather than talking about “obese people” use people-first language such as “people with obesity” or “people living with obesity”. This is standard practice in other diseases and if we are to address the problem of weight stigma it is important that obesity be given the same respect. »


Association médicale canadienne (publié le 2 juin 2015)
Mémoire présenté au Comité sénatorial permanent des affaires sociales, des sciences et de la technologie

Extrait : « […] les personnes obèses risquent plus que les personnes qui ont un poids normal d’éprouver des problèmes de santé mentale, comme une faible estime de soi, la dépression et l’anxiété. La stigmatisation rattachée à l’obésité est grande. Les personnes obèses risquent d’être intimidées, ostracisées et victimes de discrimination au travail. Certaines se tournent vers la nourriture pour soulager leur stress ou échapper à leur mal de vivre, ce qui perpétue un cercle vicieux sur le plan de l’alimentation et de la santé mentale. »


Obesity (Vol. 23 No. 5-May 2015)
Obesity, perceived weight discrimination, and psychological well-being in older adults in England.

Extrait : « In summary, our results indicate that a substantial proportion of the association between obesity and psychological well-being can be explained by perceptions of weight discrimination. Concerted efforts to reduce weight stigma in society could therefore help to alleviate the psychological burden of obesity. »


Obesity Reviews (Vol. 16, Issue 4-April 2015)
Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity

Extrait : « They may also signal overly simplified assumptions about the causes of obesity, by suggesting, for example, that their patients cut back on fast food or consider taking the stairs instead of elevators. These assumptions ignore the complexity of energy balance and propagate a common misunderstanding that weight loss is as simple as ‘calories in < calories out’. Such counsel, despite its positive intentions to optimize patient health, may create unrealistic expectations about the effects of small lifestyle changes, which may lead to disappointment and recidivism. This counsel can also have unintended side effects if it signals to patients that they are seen solely in terms of their stigmatized identity. »


Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (Vol. 127-March 2015)
The affective and interpersonal consequences of obesity (Abstract) (PDF complet)

Extrait : « Lastly, it is important to understand when obesity influences actual performance versus perceptions of performance. In Study 1, we demonstrate that obesity influenced performance predictions when no actual relationship between weight and performance existed. However, performance at work is likely to reflect both ability and interpersonal interactions. If individuals behave aggressively towards obese employees, or do not invest in their training (Shapiro et al., 2007), obese employees may actually learn less and perform worse over time. »


Appetite (Vol.-1 Nov. 2014)
Weight stigma is stressful. A review of evidence for the Cyclic Obesity/Weight-Based Stigma model. (Abstract) 

Extrait : « The COBWEBS [cyclic obesity/weight-based stigma] model further provides scientific theory and evidence that suggest that such campaigns [using weight stigma as an anti-obesity strategy] will likely be ineffective, and perhaps even backfire. »


The University of Queensland, Australia (June 1, 2014)
Physiotherapists demonstrate weight stigma.

Extrait : « […] in free text responses regarding treatment participants demonstrated implicit weight stigma in the following ways:
• Weight was assumed to be individually controllable
• Negative language was often used about fatness
• Directive not collaborative language was used
• The complexity of the causes of body size was not acknowledged/understood
• There was an over focus on weight, to the detriment of other important presenting factors »


Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 51-March 2014)
The ironic effects of weight stigma (Abstract) (PDF complet)

Extrait : « This research illustrates that for individuals who perceive themselves to be overweight, media messages that stigmatize obesity not only increase their concerns about being stigmatized because of their weight, but also can have the paradoxical effects of increasing their consumption of calorie-rich food and reducing their feelings of self-efficacy for being able to control their diet. »


Nutrition Journal (publié le 24 janv. 2011)
Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift

Extrait : « From the perspective of efficacy as well as ethics, body weight is a poor target for public health intervention. There is sufficient evidence to recommend a paradigm shift from conventional weight management to Health at Every Size. »


Obesity (The Obesity Society Journal-Vol. 17, No. 5-May 2009)
The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update  (texte complet)

Extrait : « Unfortunately, it does not appear that the increasing prevalence of obesity has attenuated negative societal attitudes toward obese people. In contrast, the growing science on this topic demonstrates that weight bias persists and has expanded to other domains of living previously unstudied, and may actually be increasing in prevalence. »


Journal of Vocational Behavior (Feb. 2009)
A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Studies of Weight-Based Bias in the Workplace (Abstract) (PDF complet)

Extrait : « This paper stands to demonstrate, at its best, an aggregated estimate of the average effect of weight-based bias across evaluative workplace out-comes, suggesting that weight-based bias is likely to occur across a variety of evaluative decision making scenarios, particularly for hiring and performance decisions. »


Obesity (The Obesity Society Journal-Vol. 16, No. 2-Special Issue: Weight Bias: New Science on a Significant Social Problem-Nov. 2008)
A Historical Analysis of Public Health, the Law, and Stigmatized Social Groups: The Need for Both Obesity and Weight Bias Legislation

Extrait : « However, the discrimination obese people face is pervasive in critical social institutions. Because we are not dealing with discriminatory laws, the legal path toward rectifying weight bias is less clear. We must advocate changes in the current laws and push for unique legislation targeting weight biases in certain areas, like employment. But beyond the law, public health professionals should continue to educate the public on the realities of obesity and weight bias. »


Health Psychology (Feb. 2003)
Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy (Abstract) (PDF complet)

Extrait : « These studies support the pervasiveness of implicit bias against overweight people and the unique demonstrations of bias that can be learned from implicit measures. Given the relative nature of the measures used, the results can be interpreted as both anti-fat and pro-thin biases. On the basis of popular messages in the media that promote fat jokes and the idolization of thin models, it seems likely that both pressures are active in Western cultures.

Across the studies, a surprising pattern of results emerged from the different approaches to modifying anti-fat/pro-thin biases. Although providing information to participants that obesity is predominantly caused by behavioral factors, such as overeating and lack of exercise, led to higher bias (compared with the other groups), giving comparable information that obesity is mainly due to genetics did not result in lower implicit or explicit biases. Our attempts to evoke empathy through stories of discrimination against an overweight young woman did not produce lower bias across the whole sample, further demonstrating the durability of the anti-fat judgments. »


Journal of Social Issues (Dec. 2002)
Dieting, Weight, and Health: Reconceptualizing Research and Policy

Extrait : « Weight-centered model of health leads to obesity-related stigma. An outcome of the overemphasis on body weight as the primary determinant of health has led to the stigmatization and stereotyping of the obese. Internalized negative images of obese persons influences researchers’ interpretations and recommendations. Therefore, it is imperative that we better understand the social psychological dynamics of this stigma. Obesity-related stigma refers to how the fat person is stereotyped, morally judged, and viewed with disdain. This stigmatization is a source of great pain and suffering for those who are targeted. A 1996 story in USA Today tells about a 12-year-old boy, Samuel Graham, who hung himself because he could no longer bear the constant teasing and harassment of his classmates about his 174 pounds on his 5-foot-4-inch frame. Although research consistently shows that obesity is not associated with increased levels of psychopathology (Stunkard & Wadden, 1992) or lower self-esteem (Klesges, Klesges, Haddock, & Eck, 1992), individuals considered to be obese do experience overt forms of size discrimination that have serious social consequences (Gortmaker, Must, Perrin, Sobol, & Dietz, 1993). »


Obesity (The Obesity Society Journal-Vol. 9, No. 12-Dec. 2001)
Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity (Abstract) (texte complet)

Extrait : « There is a clear and consistent scientific literature showing pervasive bias against overweight people. It is logical that the bias begets discrimination. There is now sufficient evidence of discrimination to suggest it may be powerful and occurs across important areas of living.Studies on employment have shown hiring prejudice in laboratory studies. Subjects report being less inclined to hire an overweight person than a thin person, even with identical qualifications. Individuals make negative inferences about obese persons in the workplace, feeling that such people are lazy, lack self-discipline, and are less competent. One might expect these attributions to affect wages, promotions, and disciplinary actions, and such seems to be the case. […]

Health care is another arena in which biased attitudes are an issue. Very negative attitudes about overweight individuals have been reported in physicians, nurses, and medical students, much the same as in general society. […]

Stigmatization in educational settings seems to take place at all ages. From teasing of obese children to college acceptance, an overweight individual faces serious challenges.We would expect this to affect self-esteem, intellectual self-efficacy, and very tangible outcomes like where one attends college and employment opportunities. One telling study found that parents of overweight children provided them less support for college than parents did for their thin children. It is strong prejudice indeed when parents discriminate against their own children.Individuals believing that they have been victims of discrimination have sought legal relief, typically by asking that obesity be considered a disability, thereby protecting those affected under the ADA [American Disability Act]. This has been successful in some cases but raises questions about whether it is desirable for obese persons to be considered disabled. […]

[…] whatever bad comes from the bias and discrimination is acceptable, even merited, based on the common belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. In cases where explicit attitude measures show little or no bias, implicit measures show significant bias, even in health professionals who specialize in the treatment of obese persons. »


International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders: journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (August 26, 2001)
Weighing the care: physicians’ reactions to the size of a patient.

Extrait : « The weight of a patient significantly affected how physicians viewed and treated them. Although physicians prescribed more tests for heavier patients, F(2, 107)=3.65, P<0.03, they simultaneously indicated that they would spend less time with them, F(2, 107)=8.38, P<0.001, and viewed them significantly more negatively on 12 of the 13 indices. »


Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 66, No. 5-June 1994)
Prejudice Against Fat People: Ideology and Self-Interest

Extrait : « In contrast to racism and sexism, the overt expression of antipathy toward fat people is currently affected only modestly by normative pressure and concerns about social desirability. »


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