Can Legislation Prohibiting Weight Discrimination Improve Psychological Well-Being? A Preliminary Investigation

Weight-based discrimination is pervasive and increases vulnerability to poor mental health among targeted individuals. Legislation prohibiting weight discrimination has been proposed as an avenue for reducing social injustice. The present research examines how mere knowledge of such legislation may improve the psychological well-being of individuals who have experienced unfair treatment due to weight. In an experiment administered online, 214 adults with overweight/obesity read a vignette exemplifying weight discrimination and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, in which they were informed that weight discrimination was illegal or legal, and then responded to questionnaires assessing internalized weight bias, affect, perceived pervasiveness of weight discrimination, and support for anti-discrimination legislation. Analysis of covariance revealed that participants with obesity in the Illegal condition exhibited lower levels of internalized weight bias than did participants in the Legal condition. Participants in the Illegal condition also exhibited less negative affect and more positive affect than did those in the Legal condition. No significant effects of condition on perceived pervasiveness of weight discrimination or legislation support emerged. Findings suggest that mere knowledge of legislation prohibiting weight discrimination has the potential to reduce weight bias internalization and improve affective responses among individuals with obesity.