Title

How Did You Get So Thin? The Effect Of Attribution On Perceptions Of Underweight Females

Keywords

Attribution theory; Eating disorders; Teasing; Thinness; Underweight

Abstract

This study applied attribution theory to determine how responsible women are viewed as being for their weight and to gain a better understanding of how underweight females are perceived. Additionally, the impact of having been teased for being underweight on perceptions and responsibility ratings was explored. Participants (515 undergraduates: 285 women and 230 men) were shown a photograph of an objectively underweight woman in one of three randomly assigned conditions: thinness attributed to an eating disorder, illness, or heredity. An underweight female was perceived as most responsible for her weight and ascribed more negative characteristics when she was described as having an eating disorder than when her weight was attributed to heredity or illness. Weight-related teasing histories were unrelated to perceptions of underweight women. However, underweight women may be at risk for being stereotyped (e.g., depressed, undereating) even when it is known that their weight is related to heredity. ©2009, Editrice Kurtis.

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Publication Title

Eating and Weight Disorders

Volume

14

Issue

1

Number of Pages

38-44

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327793

Socpus ID

65549125947 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/65549125947

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