Investigating social support and undermining in the initial phase of weight loss

Marny Michelle Ehmann

doi:10.17918/00011203

Evidence suggests that social influences play a role in one's ability to adopt and sustain weight control behaviors. Two key social influences are social support (e.g., validation, praise, tangible assistance) and social undermining (e.g., criticism of weight control, minimization of efforts). While qualitative studies have consistently identified social support as a facilitator and social undermining as a barrier to weight control, quantitative research has produced inconsistent findings, likely due to: (1) reliance on a limited, retrospective self-report measure; (2) static conceptualizations of support and undermining; and (3) little examination of both constructs in the same sample. This study addressed these gaps by measuring social support and undermining comprehensively and repeatedly during the initial period of a weight loss attempt among women (N = 34; aged 18-70) using a popular commercial weight loss program (WW). Participant characteristics and social context variables were measured at baseline, and social support, criticism, minimization, weight, self-efficacy, and engagement in the WW program were measured weekly for 12 consecutive weeks. Results showed that average social support was higher among those living with others in the home and average criticism was higher in younger adults and those with lower perceived acceptability of overweight in their social network. Contrary to hypotheses, support, criticism, and minimization were fairly stable within individuals and did not significantly change on average across time. However, multilevel analyses revealed that in weeks when participants reported more support than typical for them, they lost more weight, and in weeks when minimization was higher than usual, they lost less weight and reported fewer days of dietary self-monitoring. In addition, participants with higher overall levels of support across the study lost more weight on average each week and reported greater self-efficacy for weight control. These findings highlight that both fluctuations in social experiences from week to week and the broader, enduring social climate play important roles in weight control. There is a need to develop and disseminate interventions that bolster social support and mitigate minimization to improve weight loss success. Future research should continue to examine social dynamics and behavioral outcomes over longer periods and in more diverse populations to better understand their role in sustained behavior change.

Investigating social support and undermining in the initial phase of weight loss

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Investigating social support and undermining in the initial phase of weight loss

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