TY - JOUR
T1 - Appearance discrimination and binge eating among sexual minority men
AU - Grunewald, William
AU - Convertino, Alexandra D.
AU - Safren, Steven A.
AU - Mimiaga, Matthew J.
AU - O'Cleirigh, Conall
AU - Mayer, Kenneth H.
AU - Blashill, Aaron J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Author time was supported by Grant 9K24DA040489 (Safren). This work was supported by NIH grant P01 AI074415, an unrestricted research grant from the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research . We thank Julia Tomassilli for her assistance in managing this cohort. All authors are responsible for reported research and have participated in the concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting or revising, and have approved this manuscript as submitted.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Sexual minority men (SMM) face substantial disparities in rates of binge eating compared to heterosexual individuals, underscoring the need to study risk factors for the development of binge eating amongst SMM. One potential explanation for this disparity in binge eating is minority stress theory, which posits that minority groups face stressors, such as discrimination, due to their stigmatized position in society. Additionally, specific domains of discrimination may confer different levels of risk for binge eating. Therefore, the current study examined the association of various forms of discrimination, including appearance-based discrimination, and binge eating in a sample of SMM. A sample of 200 SMM (analytic sample of N = 187) from the greater Boston area completed self-report questionnaires assessing frequency of different forms of perceived discrimination (appearance, sexual orientation, race, etc.) and binge eating. A hierarchical binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association of different forms of discrimination with binge eating. 9% of the sample reported binge eating. Appearance-based discrimination was the most common form of discrimination (47%), and was significantly associated with binge eating, over and above all other forms of discrimination and sociodemographic variables, OR = 1.71, 95% CI = [1.24, 2.35], Wald χ2 (1) = 10.65, p = .001. Findings suggest that appearance-based discrimination may be related to binge eating in SMM. Clinicians may consider assessing appearance-based discrimination among SMM patients.
AB - Sexual minority men (SMM) face substantial disparities in rates of binge eating compared to heterosexual individuals, underscoring the need to study risk factors for the development of binge eating amongst SMM. One potential explanation for this disparity in binge eating is minority stress theory, which posits that minority groups face stressors, such as discrimination, due to their stigmatized position in society. Additionally, specific domains of discrimination may confer different levels of risk for binge eating. Therefore, the current study examined the association of various forms of discrimination, including appearance-based discrimination, and binge eating in a sample of SMM. A sample of 200 SMM (analytic sample of N = 187) from the greater Boston area completed self-report questionnaires assessing frequency of different forms of perceived discrimination (appearance, sexual orientation, race, etc.) and binge eating. A hierarchical binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association of different forms of discrimination with binge eating. 9% of the sample reported binge eating. Appearance-based discrimination was the most common form of discrimination (47%), and was significantly associated with binge eating, over and above all other forms of discrimination and sociodemographic variables, OR = 1.71, 95% CI = [1.24, 2.35], Wald χ2 (1) = 10.65, p = .001. Findings suggest that appearance-based discrimination may be related to binge eating in SMM. Clinicians may consider assessing appearance-based discrimination among SMM patients.
KW - Appearance
KW - Binge eating
KW - Discrimination
KW - Sexual minority men
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U2 - 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104819
DO - 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104819
M3 - Article
C2 - 32853713
AN - SCOPUS:85091236900
VL - 156
JO - Appetite
JF - Appetite
SN - 0195-6663
M1 - 104819
ER -