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Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism.

ABSTRACT: One major approach to weight stigma reduction consists of decreasing beliefs about the personal controllability of-and responsibility for-obesity by educating about its biogenetic causes. Evidence on the efficacy of this approach is mixed, and it remains unclear whether this would create a deterministic view, potentially leading to detrimental side-effects. Two independent studies from Germany using randomized designs with delayed-intervention control groups served to (1) develop and pilot a brief, interactive stigma reduction intervention to educate N = 128 university students on gene × environment interactions in the etiology of obesity; and to (2) evaluate this intervention in the general population (N = 128) and determine mechanisms of change. The results showed (1) decreased weight stigma and controllability beliefs two weeks post-intervention in a student sample; and (2) decreased internal attributions and increased genetic attributions, knowledge, and deterministic beliefs four weeks post-intervention in a population sample. Lower weight stigma was longitudinally predicted by a decrease in controllability beliefs and an increase in the belief in genetic determinism, especially in women. The results underline the usefulness of a brief, interactive intervention promoting an interactionist view of obesity to reduce weight stigma, at least in the short term, lending support to the mechanisms of change derived from attribution theory. The increase in genetic determinism that occurred despite the intervention's gene × environment focus had no detrimental side-effect on weight stigma, but instead contributed to its reduction. Further research is warranted on the effects of how biogenetic causal information influences weight management behavior of individuals with obesity.

SUBMITTER: Hilbert A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5025056 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism.

Hilbert Anja A

PloS one 20160915 9

One major approach to weight stigma reduction consists of decreasing beliefs about the personal controllability of-and responsibility for-obesity by educating about its biogenetic causes. Evidence on the efficacy of this approach is mixed, and it remains unclear whether this would create a deterministic view, potentially leading to detrimental side-effects. Two independent studies from Germany using randomized designs with delayed-intervention control groups served to (1) develop and pilot a bri ...[more]

PMID: 27631384

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Project description:BackgroundInternalized weight stigma has gained growing interest due to its association with multiple health impairments in individuals with obesity. Especially high internalized weight stigma is reported by individuals undergoing bariatric surgery. For assessing this concept, two different self-report questionnaires are available, but have never been compared: the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ) and the Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS). The purpose of the present study was to provide and to compare reliability, convergent validity with and predictive values for psychosocial health outcomes for the WSSQ and WBIS.MethodsThe WSSQ and the WBIS were used to assess internalized weight stigma in N = 78 prebariatric surgery patients. Further, body mass index (BMI) was assessed and body image, quality of life, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety were measured by well-established self-report questionnaires. Reliability, correlation, and regression analyses were conducted.ResultsInternal consistency of the WSSQ was acceptable, while good internal consistency was found for the WBIS. Both measures were significantly correlated with each other and body image. While only the WSSQ was correlated with overweight preoccupation, only the WBIS was correlated with appearance evaluation. Both measures were not associated with BMI. However, correlation coefficients did not differ between the WSSQ and the WBIS for all associations with validity measures. Further, both measures significantly predicted quality of life, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, while the WBIS explained significantly more variance than the WSSQ total score for self-esteem.ConclusionsFindings indicate the WSSQ and the WBIS to be reliable and valid assessments of internalized weight stigma in prebariatric surgery patients, although the WBIS showed marginally more favorable results than the WSSQ. For both measures, longitudinal studies on stability and predictive validity are warranted, for example, for weight-related and psychosocial outcomes.

Project description:affy_root-dvt-nitrogen_medicago. The biological question is the study of root development adaptation to external nitrogen availability. One of the typical responses to low N provision consists of an increased root branching which promotes soil exploration. In order to differentiate between genes specifically involved in nitrate response and genes of root development, we had performed experiments on both a wild type and a mutant affected in root architecture, both supplied with two different levels of nitrate. Global gene expression profiling of root cells using microarray analysis will be conducted to identify genes expressed during root branching. First, analysing the differential gene expression between the wild type and the mutant both at low and high level of nitrate, we will identify genes of root development but also genes specifically involved in nitrate response. Then, additional comparisons will concern the modifications of wild type and mutant gene expression between the two levels of nitrate. These genes will be compared to those found to be expressed in the wild type roots under submitted to various nitrogen sources (Ruffel et al., 2008). All together these results will allow us to determine which genes, among the firstly underlined, are specifically involved in root development. The kinetics of expression in different tissues of the most relevant of these genes will be further analysed by qRT-PCR. Three successive experiments in growth chamber were performed on two different genotypes of Medicago truncatula. Each experiment constituted a biological replicate. For each of them, after 4 days of seed cold-treatment followed by 4 days of germination, individual plantlets were transferred onto hydroponic culture tanks containing vigorously aerated nutrient solution. Each tank contained 6 plantlets of J5 and 6 plantlets of the mutant. On one shelf of the growth chamber, nutrient solution in the tanks was supplemented by 1mM of KNO3; on the other shelf, the level of KNO3 in the solution was of 10mM. Nutrient solution was renewed every week. Roots of the two genotypes were harvested separately but at the same time, 10 days after the plantlets transfer onto hydroponic culture tanks. Keywords: dose response, wt vs mutant comparison

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Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism.

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Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism.

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