Body Weight Stigma

What it measures

A twelve-item sentence-completion scale measuring the degree to which a person believes that society in general stigmatises, discriminates against, and treats overweight people negatively. Items complete a stem about 'most people' and assess a comprehensive range of stigmatising attitudes and behaviours: stigmatisation, discrimination, social exclusion, intelligence imputation, prejudice, poor treatment, disrespect, and dislike. The scale captures perceptions of societal weight stigma as an environmental reality rather than the respondent's personal attitudes.

Response format

7-point Likert (sentence completion)

Scale items

• ...sometimes stigmatize overweight people.
• ...discriminate against overweight people.
• ...might not want to be friends with overweight people.
• ...might think overweight people are less trustworthy than other people.
• ...tend to assume overweight people are not quite as bright as other people.
• ...are prejudiced against overweight people.
• ...treat overweight people poorly.
• ...treat overweight people as if they are not as smart as other people.
• ...treat overweight people as if they are not as nice as other people.
• ...look down on overweight people.
• ...don't give overweight people much respect.
• ...do not like overweight people.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

SENTENCE COMPLETION FORMAT: All items complete the stem 'Most people...' Single alpha: α = .93 — Harmeling et al. (2021, Study 2 pretest; n = 61 MTurk). VALIDITY: Not reported. Scale appears developed from stigma literature drawing on concepts from Puhl & Brownell (2001) and related sources. NOTE: The scale measures perceived societal stigma (what most people believe and do) rather than the respondent's personal stigmatising attitudes — this distinction is important for interpretation. Same paper as Body Weight Exposure (BWEX, ID 2107). NOTE: This scale addresses sensitive content relating to weight stigma and discrimination; researchers should apply appropriate ethical review considerations.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Harmeling, Colleen M., Martin Mende, Maura L. Scott, and Robert W. Palmatier (2021). Marketing through the eyes of the stigmatized. Journal of Marketing Research, 58(2), 223–245.

Keywords