Gaps in Measurement: Highlighting Anti-Fat Bias as an Underrepresented Construct in the Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale

Abstract

Increasing cross-sectional literature highlights a strong overlap of internalised weight bias (i.e., weight-based self-devaluation) with constructs like body dissatisfaction. The highest overlap is in studies that use the Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS-M). We argue that anti-fat bias (e.g., negative judgements of fat people) is a core feature of internalised weight bias definitions not represented in the WBIS-M, making its items less distinct from body dissatisfaction. To investigate, we examined the longitudinal relationships of anti-fat bias with internalised weight bias among 3025 sexual minority men using random intercept cross-lagged panel models. We contend that, if t..