Stigmatising views towards individuals with eating disorders: trends and associations from 1998 to 2008 using a repeated cross-sectional design

Background Eating disorders are stigmatized. Little is known on whether stigma has decreased over time and which groups hold more stigmatizing beliefs. Aims To explore whether stigma towards eating disorders has changed between 1998 and 2008 and whether it varies by socio-demographic characteristics. Methods We used the Office for National Statistics(ONS) Omnibus surveys 1998 and 2008. As outcomes, we selected four questions eliciting participants’ views on issues of blame and ability to recover, and compared their mean scores across eating disorders, depression, alcohol dependence in both years. We used multivariable linear regressions to investigate associations between social-demographic characteristics and each stigma domain. Results 2,720 participants had data on all variables of interest. Compared to 1998, in 2008 stigmatizing views towards eating disorders improved. In both years, participants believed it was easier to recover from eating disorders than depression or alcohol dependence. Respondents believed people with eating disorders were more to blame for their condition than those with depression, but less than those with alcohol dependence. Men, those with less formal education, and those from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to place greater blame on individuals for their mental illness. Men were more likely than women to think it was possible to recover from an eating disorder. Conclusions Stigmatizing attitudes towards people with eating disorders have improved over time, but are still greater than those observed for other mental illnesses. Improving eating disorder mental health literacy could help to reduce these negative views and lead to improved quality of life, greater help-seeking and better prognosis.

Citation

Guy, J., Bould, H., Lewis, G., & Solmi, F. (2021). Stigmatising views towards individuals with eating disorders: trends and associations from 1998 to 2008 using a repeated cross-sectional design. The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 220(5), 1–7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2021.175

DOI

10.1192/bjp.2021.175

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14709/615

Usage rights

CC BY 4.0

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/