Anti-fat prejudice toward women : an exploration of psychosocial ideologies among college students

Extant research indicates women report twice as many instances of weight-based discrimination as men do, suggesting that anti-fat prejudice directed at women may be a covert form of sexism. The purpose of this study was to examine four factors proposed by the dual process motivational model and the theory of ambivalent sexism as significant influencers of anti-fat prejudice directed at women – social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism – among college students. It was hypothesized that the four factors would be positively related to anti-fat prejudice toward women, benevolent sexism and hostile sexism would partially mediate the associations between these factors, and gender would moderate the relationships among these factors. Five hundred and seventy-seven college students were surveyed and data were analyzed using path analysis. Hypotheses were partially supported. Results indicated anti-fat prejudice toward women is positively influenced by social dominance orientation and hostile sexism, negatively influenced by right-wing authoritarianism, and unrelated to benevolent sexism. Partial mediation through hostile sexism – but not benevolent sexism – was supported, and gender as a moderator was supported. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.