
Diane M QuinnUniversity of Connecticut | UConn · Department of Psychology
Diane M Quinn
PhD
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73
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
August 1999 - present
January 2005 - present
Education
August 1995 - July 1999
Publications
Publications (73)
Research suggests that pregnant women are discriminated against in the workplace and that a significant percentage of new mothers leave the workforce. Few researchers have examined the link between women’s discriminatory experiences and workforce attrition, instead of focusing on either individual-level factors (e.g., income) or workplace factors (...
Understanding how stigmatized identities contribute to increased rates of depression and anxiety is critical to stigma reduction and mental health treatment. There has been little research testing multiple aspects of stigmatized identities simultaneously. In the current study, we collected data from a diverse, urban, adult community sample of peopl...
Concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) are devalued social identities or attributes, such as mental illness, HIV+ status, and chronic illness, that can be kept concealed from others. We describe two components of a CSI—valenced content and magnitude—that we argue are critical in determining the impact of a CSI on psychological, physical, and beh...
Stigma experiences are robustly connected to poor health outcomes. However, stigma itself is contextually dependent. Comparing recent data (collected in 2022–2023) to a previous data set (collected 2004–2005), we examined changes in cultural and anticipated stigma for 13 concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs). Moreover, we tested if the relation...
Background:
After bariatric surgery, some patients experience adverse psychiatric outcomes, including substance use, suicidality, and self-harm. These factors are commonly associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related symptoms (PTSD-S) that develop following adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and traumatic events. However, eme...
Body weight is often viewed as personally controllable. This belief, however, ignores the complex etiology of body weight. While such attributions of personal willpower may help some individuals regulate their eating patterns, they have also been associated with increased internalized weight stigma which, itself, is associated with more disinhibite...
Background
Emotional eating in bariatric surgery patients is inconsistently linked with poor post-operative weight loss and eating behaviors, and much research to date is atheoretical. To examine theory-informed correlates of pre-operative emotional eating, the present cross-sectional analysis examined paths through which experienced weight bias an...
As the prevalence of overweight and obesity have risen over the past few decades, so have weight control attempts. Research has shown, however, that intentional weight loss results are often short-lived, with people regaining the weight over time. This can lead to weight cycling–losing and gaining weight repeatedly. Previous research, mostly done o...
Objective
Psychopathology in bariatric surgery patients may contribute to adverse postoperative sequelae, including weight regain, substance use, and self‐harm. This cross‐sectional study aimed to advance the understanding of the risk and protective paths through which weight bias associates with depressive and anxiety symptoms in bariatric surgery...
Large health disparities exist between stigmatized and nonstigmatized groups. In addition to experiencing and anticipating greater discrimination, members of stigmatized groups also tend to demonstrate greater ruminative tendencies in response, which may lead to these poor health outcomes. Even among stigmatized groups, differences in the visibilit...
Experiencing and anticipating discrimination because one possesses a visible (e.g., race) or concealable (e.g., mental illness) stigmatized identity has been related to increased psychological distress. Little research, however, has examined whether experiencing and anticipating discrimination related to possessing both a visible and concealable st...
This meta-analysis synthesizes research on using ingroup role models to improve the performance and interest of underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A systematic literature search resulted in forty-five studies that met the selection criteria, including the presence of a comparison group. Both lab and fiel...
Objective:
A substantial amount of literature has suggested that weight stigma impairs health. Evidence on gender differences in weight stigma has been mixed, but studies of weight stigma within men have been primarily absent from the literature.
Methods:
In two samples of men recruited nationally from across the United States (N = 1,753), parti...
Objective
This study assessed the weight stigma experiences of men, examining characteristics of men who experienced weight stigma versus men who did not.
Methods
Data from three samples of men were examined (N = 1,513). Sample 1 consisted of men with obesity at elevated risk for weight stigma. Sample 2 comprised a convenience online panel. Sample...
Objective:
Considerable evidence has documented links between weight stigma and poor health, independent of weight. However, little research has assessed how individuals cope with weight stigma, and how stigma-specific coping responses contribute to health. The present study examined multiple stigma-specific coping responses as mediators of the re...
Objective:
This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the presence, severity, and sociodemographic correlates of weight bias internalization (WBI) across three distinct samples of US adults.
Methods:
Levels of WBI were compared in (1) a sample of adults with obesity and heightened risk of weight stigma (N = 456), (2) an online com...
Despite theoretical support for the relationship between disclosure (or “outness”) and positive health outcomes for people with concealable stigmatized identities, research using outness to predict health elicits weak to inconsistent relationships. In the current research we argue that it is the need to frequently conceal that predicts negative hea...
Introduction
Obesity is an ongoing public health concern in the U.S. Weight stigma is linked to a number of obesogenic health outcomes, which complicate obesity treatment and prevention. Despite higher rates of obesity in female and minority populations, little research has examined weight stigma in non-white women and men. This study investigated...
The Intimate Partner Violence Stigmatization Model posits that internalized stigma and centrality of experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) to one's self-concept are two intrapersonal factors that influence concealment of IPV. However, research has yet to empirically examine these relationships. The current study examines whether internaliz...
This study of a racially and ethnically diverse group of homeless adults examined the relationship between perceived homelessness stigma and psychological distress, physical health, and avoidance of services. We also explored independent and interactive effects of perceived racial stigma and homelessness stigma on these outcomes for members of raci...
Background
Challenges of maintaining long-term weight loss are well-established and present significant obstacles in obesity prevention and treatment. A neglected but potentially important barrier to weight-loss maintenance is weight stigmatization. PurposeWe examined the role of weight stigma—experienced and internalized—as a contributor to weight...
Previous work shows that people with concealable stigmatized identities are at risk for heightened psychological distress (depression and anxiety), and one predictor for increased distress is greater anticipated stigma. Anticipated stigma is the concern that 1 will receive disparagement and poor treatment from others if the stigmatized identity bec...
We integrated theories of social stigma and rejection sensitivity to develop a new construct for understanding the effects of day-to-day experiences of interpersonal weight stigma: weight-based rejection sensitivity (W-RS), or a tendency to anxiously expect weight-based rejection. We created a new scale to measure W-RS. Studies 1 and 2 together est...
People living with concealable stigmatized identities are vulnerable to experiencing greater depressive symptoms as a result of occupying a lower social status. In the present research, we examine the effect of changes in enacted stigma and changes in anticipated stigma on trajectories of depressive symptoms over time. A sample of 192 college-aged...
Although the process of sexual objectification is theorized to occur within interpersonal interactions, we believe this is the first study to examine sexual objectification and self-objectification in actual (nonconfederate) interpersonal encounters. Men and women were brought into the laboratory and interacted in mixed-sex dyads. We used dyadic an...
The current study examined whether exposure to sexually objectifying images in a potential romantic partner’s virtual apartment affects discrepancies between people’s perception of their own appearance (i.e., self-perceptions) and their perception of the body ideal that is considered desirable to a romantic partner (i.e., partner-ideals). Participa...
The current research provides a framework for understanding how concealable stigmatized identities impact people’s psychological well-being and health. The authors hypothesize that increased anticipated stigma, greater centrality of the stigmatized identity to the self, increased salience of the identity, and possession of a stigma that is more str...
This research examined whether the relationship between perceived social support and health would be moderated by level of outness for people living with different concealable stigmatized identities (mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, rape, or childhood abuse). A total of 394 people living with a concealable stigmatized identity co...
Internalizing mental illness stigma is related to poorer well-being, but less is known about the factors that predict levels of internalized stigma. This study explored how experiences of discrimination relate to greater anticipation of discrimination and devaluation in the future and how anticipation of stigma in turn predicts greater stigma inter...
Many people have concealable stigmatized identities: Identities that can be hidden from others and that are socially devalued and negatively stereotyped. Understanding how these concealable stigmatized identities affect psychological well-being is critical. We present our model of the components of concealable stigmatized identities including valen...
The current study examines the extent to which H1N1 was stigmatized at the height of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the U.S. and explores the role that H1N1 stigma played in people's desire for physical distance from others with H1N1. H1N1 was the most stigmatized disease, with participants endorsing greater prejudice towards people with H1N1 than peopl...
The Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Stigmatization Model identifies how three stigma components hinder IPV help-seeking behaviors: cultural stigma, stigma internalization, and anticipated stigma. Cultural stigma highlights societal beliefs that de-legitimize people experiencing abuse. Stigma internalization involves the extent to which people come...
Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are severely affected by the HIV epidemic, yet research on the
relationship between HIV stigma and status disclosure is relatively limited among this population. Within this epidemic, internalized HIV stigma, the extent to which people living with HIV/AIDS endorse the negative beliefs associated with HIV as tr...
Heightened body surveillance can have negative effects on physical and psychological well-being, but little is known about the factors that contribute to this chronic surveillance. The authors tested a model that examined whether staking self-worth in certain domains was associated with decreased or increased body surveillance and appearance satisf...
The Chronic Illness Anticipated Stigma Scale (CIASS) was developed to measure anticipated stigma (i.e., expectations of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination) among people living with chronic illnesses. The CIASS is a 12-item scale with three subscales differentiating among sources of anticipated stigma, including friends and family members,...
We examined the process by which anticipated stigma relates to quality of life among people living with chronic illnesses. We hypothesized that stress, social support and patient satisfaction mediate the relationships between three sources of anticipated stigma and quality of life.
Data were collected from adults living with chronic illnesses recru...
Approximately half of adults are living with a chronic illness, many of whom may feel stigmatized by their chronic illness in different contexts. We explored the impact of internalized, experienced, and anticipated stigma within healthcare settings on the quality of life of 184 participants living with chronic illnesses (e.g. diabetes, inflammatory...
In this chapter, we first consider the implications of objectification theory for performance outcomes and review evidence supporting Fredrickson and Roberts’s (1997) original claim that self-objectification usurps cognitive resources. We then discuss evidence to support three different reasons why self-objectification can be detrimental to perform...
This study examined whether a curvaceous body ideal differentially influenced sources of body dissatisfaction in 116 Black
and 222 White women at a northeastern U.S. university. We measured idealization of and dissatisfaction with three components
of a curvaceous ideal: breast size, buttock size, and weight. Although most women preferred a curvaceo...
People who live with concealable stigmatized identities face complex decisions regarding disclosure. In the current work, we examine how people's motivations for disclosing a concealable stigmatized identity for the first time affect the quality of their first-disclosure experiences and how these experiences, in turn, affect current well-being. Spe...
Despite the fact that sexism is an inherently intergroup phenomenon, women’s group-level responses to sexism have received
relatively little empirical attention. We examine the intergroup reactions experienced by 114 female students at a U.S. university
in New England who imagined being a bystander to a sexist cat-call remark or control greeting. R...
The present experiment tested the impact of sexual objectification on women's behavior in social interactions. We predicted that when objectified, women would narrow their social presence by spending little time talking, particularly when interacting with men. Participants (males and females) gave an oral introduction of themselves to an alleged in...
Stereotype threat Stereotype threat occurs when people are in a situation where a negative identity-based stereotype can be applied to their performance. Concern about the stereotype can lead to decreased performance on a stereotype-relevant task. Initial research examined stereotype threat for African-Americans in intellectual testing situations a...
The current research provides a framework for understanding how concealable stigmatized identities impact people's psychological well-being and health. The authors hypothesize that increased anticipated stigma, greater centrality of the stigmatized identity to the self, increased salience of the identity, and possession of a stigma that is more str...
The goal of the present research is to demonstrate, and then alleviate, the role of thought suppression in depressing women’s math performance under stereotype threat. We hypothesize that when taking a math test, women (but not men) attempt to suppress thoughts of the math-related gender stereotype. Suppression leads to underperformance when it use...
The Psychological Consequences of Stigma: Internalized or Situationally Constructed?Collective Representations and the Meaning of SituationsConstructing the Consequences of Devalued IdentitiesImplications and Conclusions
References
Objectification theory explicates a model in which women are socialized to view their own bodies as objects to be evaluated. In the current study, we used a 2 (self-objectification condition: swimsuit versus sweater) × 2 (gender) factorial design to examine whether body-related thoughts continued after women were removed from a self-objectifying si...
Self-objectification is the act of viewing the self, particularly the body, from a third-person perspective. Objectification theory proposes numerous negative consequences for those who self-objectify, including decreased performance through the disruption of focused attention. In the current study, we examined whether women in a state of self-obje...
In three studies, the authors examined the effect of revealing a concealable social stigma--mental illness--on intellectual performance. It was hypothesized that revealing this deeply discrediting stigma would result in performance decrements. College students either with or without a history of mental illness (MI) treatment participated. In Study...
The impact of grades on daily self-esteem, affect, and identification with major was examined in a sample of 122 male and female students majoring in engineering and psychology. Self-esteem, affect, and identification with major increased on days students received good grades and decreased on days they received poor grades; basing self-esteem on ac...
Women in quantitative fields risk being personally reduced to negative stereotypes that allege a sex-based math inability. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, can undermine women’s performance and aspirations in all quantitative domains. Gender-stereotypic television commercials were employed in three studies to elicit the femal...
We examined the effect of stereotype threat on blood pressure reactivity. Compared with European Americans, and African Americans under little or no stereotype threat, African Americans under stereotype threat exhibited larger increases in mean arterial blood pressure during an academic test, and performed more poorly on difficult test items. We di...
Examined whether priming achievement causes lower self-esteem and more negative mood in women who believe they are overweight and whether it does so by increasing women's dissatisfaction with their bodies or with their performance. 35 self-perceived overweight women and 43 self-perceived normal weight women participated in the experiment. Half of t...
At the highest levels of math achievement, gender differences in favor of men persist on standardized math tests. We hypothesize that stereotype threat depresses women's math performance through interfering with their ability to formulate problem-solving strategies. In Study 1, women underperformed in comparison to men on a word problem test, howev...
At the highest levels of math achievement, gender differences in favor of men persist on standardized math tests. We hypothesize that stereotype threat depresses women's math performance through interfering with their ability to formulate problem-solving strategies. In Study 1, women underperformed in comparison to men on a word problemm test, howe...
(from the chapter) The authors consider the consequences of social stigma for the self-esteem of those whose social identities are devalued. The authors first consider the historical context of research on social stigma and self-esteem, and how it happened that the established wisdom of social psychology suggested that social stigma results in low...
Two studies addressed the relationship between Protestant ethic (PE) ideology and psychological well-being for self-perceived overweight and normal weight women. In Study 1, PE beliefs interacted with self-perceived weight status: For very overweight women, higher PE beliefs were related to lower psychological well-being, whereas the opposite patte...
When women perform math, unlike men, they risk being judged by the negative stereotype that women have weaker math ability. We call this predicamentstereotype threatand hypothesize that the apprehension it causes may disrupt women's math performance. In Study 1 we demonstrated that the pattern observed in the literature that women underperform on d...
(from the chapter) For those who feel overweight, vulnerability to psychological distress may be precipitated by certain contexts, beliefs, and/or bases of self-esteem. The research presented in this chapter examined some of these risk factors. As an initial step in examining reflected appraisals, dislike, and conservative ideology as vulnerability...
This chapter presents a theoretical model for understanding the negative impact of prejudice and perceptions of prejudice on academic performance and school persistence among women and minorities. The aim of the chapter is to describe research conducted under the rubric of a theory called "stereotype threat," focusing on the consequences for target...
Reports an error in "That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance" by Barbara L. Fredrickson, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Stephanie M. Noll, Diane M. Quinn and Jean M. Twenge (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998[Jul], Vol 75[1], 269-284). This article contains errors in the Partici...
Objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. Roberts, 1997) posits that American culture socializes women to adopt observers' perspectives on their physical selves. This self-objectification is hypothesized to (a) produce body shame, which in turn leads to restrained eating, and (b) consume attentional resources, which is manifested in diminished...
(from the chapter) The focus of this chapter is on the effects of racial prejudice on the self-esteem of members of stereotyped or stigmatized groups. We argue that, contrary to popular and established psychological wisdom, racism does not always take a toll on the self-esteem of its targets. We consider both situational and personal factors that m...