Le rôle de la stigmatisation dans la symptomatologie dépressive de femmes françaises en surpoids ou en situation d’obésité

IntroductionDespite the high prevalence of depressive symptoms among women being overweight or having obesity, the role of stigma and causal attributions in the expression of these symptoms in French women has been largely under-explored to date.ObjectiveThe aim of this research is to study the role of internalized stigmatization, stigmatizing experiences and causal attribution in the intensity of depressive symptoms in overweight and obese French women.MethodThese four variables were measured in 160 French women being overweight or having obesity.ResultsOur analyses highlight positive correlations between stigmatizing experiences, internalized stigmatization and depressive symptomatology. It is important to note that stigmatizing experiences seem to play a more preponderant role than internalized stigmatization in the expression of depressive symptoms.ConclusionFor women with significant depressive symptoms, it appears essential to integrate interventions aimed at reducing their level of stigma. Moreover, from a preventive perspective, it also seems essential to promote campaigns in France aimed at reducing the stigmatization in this population.     

On Judgments of Approximately Equal

Although precision is often important in quantitative judgment, sometimes, it is valuable to recognize that two quantities are roughly the same. Fuzzy‐trace theory suggests that approximately equal judgments rely on gist representations (i.e., meaningful fuzzy categories of quantity). We conducted three experiments to investigate approximately equal judgments with number pairs presented in different formats, both with and without semantic content (breast cancer statistics). In each study, the ratio of the smaller divided by larger number predicted approximately equal judgments. Experiment 1 also examined how knowledge of breast cancer, presentation format (frequencies vs. percentages), and differences in gist comprehension of breast cancer information influence fuzzy equality judgments. As predicted by the fuzzy‐trace theory concept of denominator neglect, approximately equal judgments were more sensitive, as measured by signal detection theory (SDT) analyses, when presented as percentages. In both experiments with breast cancer statistics, people were more likely to judge number pairs approximately equal when they were embedded in sentences about breast cancer, and breast cancer knowledge predicted increased perception of equality, when appropriately consistent with reliable sources, and increased judgment sensitivity. In Experiment 2, a simple intervention focusing on gist meaning increased source‐consistent approximately equal judgments, increased SDT judgment sensitivity, and decreased SDT response bias. In Experiment 3, using number pairs devoid of semantic context spanning four orders of magnitude, we further examined ratio similarity. Overall, more knowledgeable judges and those who better understood the gist of meaningful numbers were more likely to judge literally different numbers as “approximately equal” rather than make precise discriminations that were meaningless. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does Suppressing the Thought of a Self-Relevant Stigma Affect Interpersonal Interaction?

ABSTRACT

In the current study, we examined the effects of women's suppressing negative gender stereotypes while interacting with a male confederate. Compared with control participants, those who suppressed negative thoughts about women's ability experienced less self-confidence, lower self-esteem, and were more nonverbally submissive during the interaction, particularly if they were high in stigma consciousness (Pinel, 1999 Pinel, E. C. 1999. Stigma consciousness: The psychological legacy of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76: 114–128. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). These findings illustrate the negative intra- and interpersonal consequences of stigma suppression.     

Biological Explanations and Stigmatizing Attitudes: Using Essentialism and Perceived Dangerousness to Predict Antistigma Intervention Effectiveness

ABSTRACT

The theory of essentialism suggests that biological explanations of stigmatized behavior may not be effective at decreasing stigmatizing attitudes. The effects of biological explanations on stigmatizing attitudes were the topic of two experiments. In the first experiment, participants (N = 243) perceived a biological explanation as a less effective in relation to dangerousness and social distancing attitudes about mental illness than about homosexuality. The second experiment (N = 113) compared the effect of biological and free choice explanations on stigmatizing attitudes about abnormal sexual and eating behaviors. The results indicated that a biological explanation increased belief in essentialism and was most effective for attitudes related to anger and blame. These results suggest that the effectiveness of biological explanations as an antistigma tool varies according to the attitude and stigmatized group.     

Stigma and the delegitimation experience: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of people living with chronic fatigue syndrome

Individual in-depth interviews with 14 people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) were conducted, focusing on the experience of living with CFS. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and were analysed for recurrent themes using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Here we present two inter-related themes: “Negotiating a diagnosis” and “Negotiating CFS with loved ones”. Participants reported delay, negotiation and debate over diagnosis: further, they perceived their GPs to be sceptical, disrespectful and to be lacking in knowledge and interpersonal skills. However, participants found delegitimising encounters with their partners more difficult to deal with. Participants viewed such delegitimation as a form of personal rejection; they were hurt by their loved ones’ reactions and subsequently pondered the price of love, respect and friendship. The findings are discussed in relation to extant literature, and recommendations for future research are suggested.     

Stigma and hostility towards pregnant smokers: Does individuating information reduce the effect?

Australia is at the forefront of tobacco control, yet 17% of Australian women smoke during pregnancy. Negative attitudes to smoking are intensified when the smoker is pregnant, consistent with a discourse that encourages surveillance of pregnant women. Such overt anti-smoking attitudes create a context which may make it difficult for pregnant smokers to seek assistance to stop. However, there is little evidence on the extent to which pregnant smokers are stigmatised by community members. We used vignettes to examine the degree of smoking-related stigma expressed by 595 Australian university students who rated a woman, described as a mother who was smoking or not, and pregnant or not. Further, we examined whether provision of individuating information reduced the degree of stigma. Mothers described as smokers were rated more negatively than those not, particularly if they were pregnant: smokers were perceived as unhealthy, and also as bad mothers. Provision of individuating information slightly reduced these effects. These findings support the view that smokers – particularly if pregnant – are subject to negative moral judgement. Our findings contribute to the ethical debate about stigma-inducing tobacco control efforts, and suggest that anti-smoking campaigns that contextualise smoking in pregnancy might reduce stigma and assist cessation.     

Perceived stigma,self-blame,and adjustment among lung,breast and prostate cancer patients

People who suffer from disease have often been stigmatised. The internalisation of stigma leads to the experience of self-blame. The relationship among stigma, self-blame and adjustment was framed with two theoretical perspectives: the looking-glass self and learned helplessness models. These models were studied in 96 lung, 30 breast and 46 prostate cancer patients. Consistent with the looking-glass-self model, we predicted that perceived stigma and self-blame would be associated with poorer psychological adjustment; the data supported these hypotheses. Consistent with the learned helplessness model, we predicted that self-blame would mediate the link between perceived stigma and psychological adjustment; data supported these hypotheses. The mediation model explained a greater percentage of the variance in adjustment in the lung cancer sample compared to the breast and prostate cancer sample. Participants who reported internal causal attributions reported poorer psychological adjustment. Lung cancer patients were more likely than breast or prostate cancer patients to report internal causal attributions for their cancer. Future research and cancer care are discussed in light of these findings.