Investigating the impact of causal attributions on anorexia nervosa stigma

People with anorexia nervosa (AN), an eating disorder that can be debilitating and lifelong, often experience stigma (i.e., negative labelling or stereotyping) within the community. Stigma can take the form of blame where the individual is accused of being responsible for their illness or of having control over their eating habits. Yet, little is understood about whether there are aspects of blame that influence the level of stigma held towards individuals experiencing AN more than others. So, this study sought to understand how perceptions of control, responsibility, and blame affect levels of stigma held by the public towards a character with AN. The findings show that participants who viewed the individual as having control over their disorder demonstrated more stigmatising attitudes than individuals who perceived the individual as having less control over their illness. Overall, blameworthy information, whereby the individual with AN has control over and/or is to blame for their AN condition, augments stigmatisation towards those individuals. Understanding the impact of these perceptions may be the first step towards developing programs to dismantle the stigma surrounding AN, particularly in relation to erroneous views where sufferers are considered in control of their condition.