When ideology hurts: Effects of belief in the protestant ethic and feelingoverweight on the psychological well-being of women

Two studies addressed the relationship between Protestant ethic (PE) ideolo gy and psychological web-being for self-perceived overweight and normal wei ght women. In Study 1, PE beliefs interacted with self-perceived weight sta tus: For very overweight women, higher PE beliefs were related to lower psy chological well-being, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for normal weig ht women. The relationship of PE to well-being was not mediated by beliefs about controllability of weight or dislike of the overweight. In Study 2, e ither a PE ideology or an inclusive ideology was primed within the context of the stigma of overweight. For overweight participants, priming PE ideolo gy led to decreased psychological well-being, whereas priming an inclusive ideology led to increased psychological well-being. Normal weight participa nts were unaffected. PE ideology as a vulnerability factor for the psycholo gical well-being of the overweight is discussed.