engleski

Prejudice towards obese people among helping - professions individuals

Compared to other forms of prejudice, the prejudice against obese is an under-represented problem in public sphere, which is particularly worrisome since the population of obese people in the world is increasing every day. Overweight people are considered responsible for their own condition ; therefore the prejudice is more blatant and directly related to behaviour - discrimination. Media messages about slenderness as the ideal body image greatly contribute to the severity of this problem, and the impact can be seen from an early age and, in the long run, results in serious consequences for the mental health of obese people. Previous studies of this prejudice among professions which predominantly work with the obese are very scarce ; hence the aim of this study was to examine the intensity and content of prejudice towards obese people among helping - professions students. The study included 429 participants –students of psychology and social work at The University of Zagreb. Prejudice was assessed using an experimental manipulation which consisted of a modified photograph (implicit measure), as well as the attitudes towards obese people scale (explicit measure). We found a significant difference in the estimates of work performance and estimates of the three dimensions of personality depending on the body weight in the photograph. In comparison to the average weight person, the obese person was estimated as less effective at work (F (1, 427) = 17.62, p < .01), more emotionally unstable (F (1, 427) = 39.53, p < .01), less extraverted (F (1, 427) = 8.43, p < .01) and less open to experience (F (1, 427) = 5.12, p < .05). Psychology students were more stringent in assessing both the overweight and the average weight person in work performance (F (1, 427) = 11.14, p < .01), conscientiousness (F (1, 427) = 3.94, p < .05), agreeableness (F (1, 427) = 9.79, p < .05) and openness (F (1, 427) = 31.65, p < .01). There was no significant interaction between body weight in the photograph and the study field of participants. On average, participants had a moderate level of explicit prejudice against obese people. Also, results show a positive correlation of prejudice and right-wing authoritarianism. There were significant, but low associations between implicit and explicit measures of prejudice, suggesting that there is a "hidden" aspect of the prejudice that can be measured only implicitly. The results provide an insight into the under-researched understanding of prejudice against obese among helping professions and may provide useful guidelines for prejudice reduction.

prejudice towards obese people ; implicit measure of prejudice ; explicit measure of prejudice ; helping - professions

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