Brunel University Research Archive(BURA) preserves and enables easy and open access to all
types of digital content. It showcases Brunel's research outputs.
Research contained within BURA is open access, although some publications may be subject
to publisher imposed embargoes. All awarded PhD theses are also archived on BURA.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32807| Title: | Exploring how weight stigma relates to psychological distress, physical activity, and eating behaviors over time: a longitudinal study among young adults in Hong Kong |
| Authors: | Fung, XCC Siu, AMH Ye, J Chen, J-H Chen, J-S Bevan, N Griffiths, MD Lin, C-Y Lau, BWM |
| Keywords: | weight stigma;eating behaviors;physical activity;psychological distress;young adults;longitudinal study |
| Issue Date: | 17-Jan-2026 |
| Publisher: | BioMed Central (part of Springer Nature) |
| Citation: | Fung, X.C.C. et al. (2026) 'Exploring how weight stigma relates to psychological distress, physical activity, and eating behaviors over time: a longitudinal study among young adults in Hong Kong', Journal of Eating Disorders, 14 (1), 50, pp. 1 - 17. doi: 10.1186/s40337-026-01525-w. |
| Abstract: | Background: Many researchers have expressed concerns that weight stigma may cause adverse health effects and worsen weight issues in a vicious cycle. However, empirical evidence evaluating this cycle is scarce, especially among Eastern Asians. The present study investigated the temporal associations among perceived weight stigma, weight-related self-stigma, psychological distress, perceived behavioral control, physical activity, eating behaviors, and body mass index (BMI) changes. Methods: A one-year longitudinal survey was carried out to explore if the weight cycle exists among young adults in Hong Kong. The study comprised 345 participants at Time 1 (T1), 253 participants at T2, 233 participants at T3, and 235 participants at T4. Participants completed self-reported psychometric instruments in an online survey. The analysis employed parallel process latent growth curve modeling and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. Results: Temporal relationships existed in the connections between perceived stigma and self-stigma, and self-stigma and perceived behavioral control. A negative relationship between self-stigma and future BMI was found, whereas future self-stigma showed no significant association with previous BMI. Conclusion: The growth trajectories of the studied variables did not correlate with changes in BMI. However, self-stigma showed a negative association with subsequent BMI in a different model. Further research is needed to clarify whether weight stigma is impacted by changes in BMI. |
| Description: | Data availability:
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Supplementary Information is available online at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40337-026-01525-w#Sec32 . Plain English summary: Weight stigma, discrimination due to an individual’s body weight, is a public health concern. It has been found that weight stigma is harmful to an individual’s mental and physical health, and such negative impact may create a harmful cycle. However, there is little clear evidence that the cycle exists, especially among individuals from East Asia. To investigate this issue, a study followed young adults in Hong Kong to examine how weight stigma relates to mental health, eating behaviors, exercise habits, and weight changes. Young adults were surveyed over a one-year period across four timepoints; Time 1 (T1; n = 345), T2 (n = 253), T3 (n = 233), T4 (n = 235). Results indicated that relationships existed over time in the connections between (i) perceived stigma (awareness of stigma) and self-stigma (stigma towards oneself), and (ii) between self-stigma and perceived behavioral control. In summary, the rate of change of these variables did not correlate with changes in body mass index (BMI). However, self-stigma showed a negative association with BMI at later timepoints. Findings supported a clearer understanding of weight management and highlighted the harmful impact of stigma. The findings also showed significant issues with weight stigma in Hong Kong, emphasizing the need for improved public education and stigma reduction efforts. Further research is needed to determine whether weight stigma can be influenced by changes in weight. |
| URI: | https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32807 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-026-01525-w |
| Other Identifiers: | ORCiD: Andrew M. H. Siu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8117-2829 Article number: 50 |
| Appears in Collections: | Dept of Health Sciences Research Papers |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FullText.pdf | Copyright © The Author(s) 2026. Rights and permissions: Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. | 1.99 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License
