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Reporting risk, producing prejudice: How news reporting on obesity shapes attitudes about health risk, policy, and prejudice

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  • Saguy, Abigail C.
  • Frederick, David
  • Gruys, Kjerstin

Abstract

News reporting on research studies may influence attitudes about health risk, support for public health policies, or attitudes towards people labeled as unhealthy or at risk for disease. Across five experiments (N = 2123) we examined how different news framings of obesity research influence these attitudes. We exposed participants to either a control condition, a news report on a study portraying obesity as a public health crisis, a news report on a study suggesting that obesity may not be as much of a problem as previously thought, or an article discussing weight-based discrimination. Compared to controls, exposure to the public health crisis article did not increase perception of obesity-related health risks but did significantly increase the expression of antifat prejudice in four out of seven comparisons. Across studies, compared to controls, participants who read an article about weight-based discrimination were less likely to agree that overweight constitutes a public health crisis or to support various obesity policies. Effects of exposure to an article questioning the health risks associated with overweight and obesity were mixed. These findings suggest that news reports on the “obesity epidemic” – and, by extension, on public health crises commonly blamed on personal behavior – may unintentionally activate prejudice.

Suggested Citation

  • Saguy, Abigail C. & Frederick, David & Gruys, Kjerstin, 2014. "Reporting risk, producing prejudice: How news reporting on obesity shapes attitudes about health risk, policy, and prejudice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 125-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:111:y:2014:i:c:p:125-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.026
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gollust, S.E. & Niederdeppe, J. & Barry, C.L., 2013. "Framing the consequences of childhood obesity to increase public support for obesity prevention policy," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(11), pages 96-102.
    2. Gollust, Sarah E. & Eboh, Ijeoma & Barry, Colleen L., 2012. "Picturing obesity: Analyzing the social epidemiology of obesity conveyed through US news media images," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1544-1551.
    3. Saguy, Abigail, 2013. "What's Wrong with Fat?: The War on Obesity and its Collateral Damage," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199857081.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodney, Alexandra, 2018. "Pathogenic or health-promoting? How food is framed in healthy living media for women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 37-44.
    2. Bean, Christopher G. & Winefield, Helen R. & Sargent, Charli & Hutchinson, Amanda D., 2015. "Differential associations of job control components with both waist circumference and body mass index," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-8.
    3. Frederick, David A. & Saguy, Abigail C. & Gruys, Kjerstin, 2016. "Culture, health, and bigotry: How exposure to cultural accounts of fatness shape attitudes about health risk, health policies, and weight-based prejudice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 271-279.
    4. Elnaz Moghimi & Mary E Wiktorowicz, 2019. "Regulating the Fast-Food Landscape: Canadian News Media Representation of the Healthy Menu Choices Act," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Alina Arseniev-Koehler & Jacob G. Foster, 2022. "Machine Learning as a Model for Cultural Learning: Teaching an Algorithm What it Means to be Fat," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 51(4), pages 1484-1539, November.
    6. van Amsterdam, Noortje & van Eck, Dide, 2019. "“I have to go the extra mile”. How fat female employees manage their stigmatized identity at work," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 46-55.

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