Do College Students Perceive Stigma the Same Way Experts Do? An Experimental Test of Lay Perceptions of Body-Size Stigma

<p>Personal experience with weight-based stigma is negatively associated with selfesteem (Myers & Rosen, 1999). This study examined how self-esteem is affected by exposure to weight-based stigma communication that is directed at another person. Using Smith’s (2007a) stigma communication framework, I created a 2 (Stigma Level: high, low) x 2 (Gender of stigmatized person: male, female) x 2 (Body Size of stigmatized person: large, small) posttest-only experiment. Participants’ self-esteem was not impacted after viewing stigmatizing messages directed at another person. This suggests that selfesteem is more stable than some researchers indicate (Wagner, Lüdtke, and Trautwein, 2016). My results suggest that stigma communication message features, marking and personal responsibility, are more obvious in high stigma level conditions. Furthermore, results indicate that aspects of stigma are recognized in larger bodies more often than small bodies. These results suggest that perceptions about stigma communication vary by the stigma level and the stigma target’s attributes, namely body size. Implications are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies and Theatre

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Malterud, Andie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jenn Anderson

• body-size
• communication
• heath
• laypeople
• self-esteem
• stigma

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1205

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openprairie.sdstate.edu:etd-2206