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A systematic review of ecological momentary assessment studies on weight stigma and a call for a large-scale collaboration
Bidstrup, Hugh Brennan, Leah Kaufmann, Leah Meadows, Angela de la Piedad Garcia, Xochitl
Bidstrup, Hugh
Brennan, Leah
Kaufmann, Leah
Meadows, Angela
de la Piedad Garcia, Xochitl
Abstract
Background
Weight stigma is associated with poor mental health correlates in cross-sectional research. Researchers are increasingly using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods, collecting comprehensive within-person data to understand the temporal nature of weight stigma and its biopsychosocial correlates.
Aim
To systematically review EMA studies on the effect of weight stigma on biopsychosocial correlates and integrate the findings.
Method
PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase, Medline Complete, and Web of Science were searched and studies were doubled screened (H.B. and X.P.G.).
Results
Twelve studies (N = 615) met our inclusion criteria. For both between- and within-subject effects, experienced and internalized weight stigmas were associated with negative correlates/outcomes (e.g., higher disordered eating and lower positive mood). However, studies differed in the correlate measures assessed, EMA methods used, and participant instructions provided. Given these inconsistencies, comparison across studies was difficult, and findings could not be reliably integrated.
Conclusions
Consistent with previous research, studies from this review suggest weight stigma leads to adverse outcomes. EMA has the potential to overcome many of the limitations present in cross-sectional research on weight stigma and provide more ecologically valid and reliable results. We argue for a collaborative data-sharing consortium with standardized EMA methodologies, so researchers worldwide can contribute to and make use of a large, collective dataset on weight stigma and health correlates (see osf.io/s5ru6/).
Keywords
affect, ecological momentary assessment, experience sampling method, psychosocial outcomes, systematic review, weight stigma
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Obesity Reviews
Book
Volume
25
Issue
3
Page Range
1-16
Article Number
Article e13676
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2023 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of World Obesity Federation.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.