Exploring Responses to Body Weight Criticism: Defensive Avoidance When Weight Is Seen as Controllable.

ABSTRACT: In Western society, weight moralization is reflected in the belief that weight is controllable across the weight spectrum. However, the effect of holding such beliefs is unclear. We therefore propose that these beliefs affect people differently depending on their BMI. When confronted with negative, self-related feedback, people's coping strategies are often reflected in the ways they relate to their self. We examine three such self-to-self relations (i.e., reassured, inadequate, and hated self). Extending prior research, we predict that weight controllability beliefs are related to positive self-to-self relations for adults with a low, and to negative self-to-self relations for adults with a high BMI. Accordingly, we expected that weight controllability beliefs would be associated with def

SUBMITTER: Tauber S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7758617 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature