Sexual orientation, weight-related teasing, weight bias internalization, and binge eating

What is it about?

This study indicates that sexual minority individuals experience more frequent teasing about their weight, adopt higher levels of negative attitudes about weight, and experience more severe symptoms of binge eating disorder compared to heterosexual individuals. Frequency of weight related teasing, and its impact on biased attitudes toward weight, account for some, but not all, of why sexual minority individuals may have more severe binge eating symptoms.

Featured Image

Photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash

Photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Individuals who identify as having a minority sexual orientation (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual) are more than twice as likely to experience Binge Eating Disorder compared to heterosexual individuals; however, there are few investigations of this topic among sexual minority samples. This study helps to identify factors linked to higher rates of Binge Eating Disorder symptoms for sexual minority individuals. This is the first study to our knowledge to investigate differences in weight-related teasing between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals.