Heightened weighing discomfort among women may increase their health risks, Penn study indicates

The study tested a series of hypotheses designed to explain why women reported a much larger degree of discomfort than men did.

In multiple questionnaires, females showed no more sensitivity to general embarrassment than did males, nor more sensitivity to public displays of other personal information. Neither did the discomfort come from the physical act of being weighed. These other possibilities were tested to ensure that the authors’ original hypothesis was correct, that the public revealing of weight makes women so uncomfortable.

In addition, the study concludes that a partial source of female discomfort comes from the participants' own sense that they are overweight.

Study participants rated discomfort levels over a variety of weight-related scenarios. The more dissatisfied a female was with her weight, the greater the discomfort she experienced when being weighed. But even the very concept of weight, tested by assigning some participants to wear a badge bearing the single word, “Weight,” caused elevated levels of discomfort because it drew unwanted attention to what is considered an unflattering personal attribute for women.

“The real danger here is the heavier a person is, the more discomfort they feel and thus the more likely they may find reasons to skip appointments,” Geier said. “These may be the very people that need access to these clinics the most. If a person knows that he or she is going to be provided privacy during the weighing process, that could be a major relief, thereby tipping the scales to get them to go and get these potentially life-saving tests.”

The study, to be published in the upcoming issue of the journal Appetite, included 292 females and 190 males. The research was performed by Geier and Paul Rozin of the Penn Department of Psychology, which supported the study.