BMI, Weight Discrimination, and Psychological, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Obesity (Silver Spring)
; 28(9): 1590-1594, 2020 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-702482
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This study aimed to examine whether BMI and weight discrimination are associated with psychological, behavioral, and interpersonal responses to the coronavirus pandemic.METHODS:
Using a prospective design, participants (N = 2,094) were first assessed in early February 2020 before the coronavirus crisis in the United States and again in mid-March 2020 during the President's "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines. Weight, height, and weight discrimination were assessed in the February survey. Psychological, behavioral, and interpersonal responses to the coronavirus were assessed in the March survey.RESULTS:
Prepandemic experiences with weight discrimination were associated with greater concerns about the virus, engaging in more preventive behaviors, less trust in people and institutions to manage the outbreak, and greater perceived declines in connection to one's community. BMI tended to be unrelated to these responses.CONCLUSIONS:
Despite the risks of complications of coronavirus disease associated with obesity, individuals with higher BMI were neither more concerned about the virus nor taking more behavioral precautions than individuals in other weight categories. Weight discrimination, in contrast, may heighten vigilance to threat, which may have contributed to both positive (greater concern, more precautionary behavior) and negative (less trust, declines community connection) responses to the pandemic.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Pandemics
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Obesity
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Obesity (Silver Spring)
Journal subject:
Nutritional Sciences
/
Physiology
/
Metabolism
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Oby.22914
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