AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE “ANTI-OBESITY” TREND AMONG ITALIAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Abstract

This study looked into Physical Education teachers’ and students’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward obesity. Eighteen teachers and 45 students completed four questionnaires: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which assesses stereotypes and spontaneous cognitive associations through categorizations; The Crandall questionnaire for the evaluation of explicit prejudice about obesity; The Social Dominance Orientation Scale (SDO); and the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire – short version (PSDQ-s). Both groups reported significant prejudice (p <0.05), evidenced by the mean values recorded on the IAT. Teachers reported significantly higher values than students on implicit prejudice and lower values on SDO. Social Dominance Orientation proved to be a key variable in the presence of prejudice. This study may be a starting point for future research focused on reducing prejudice through specific intervention protocols.