In order to elucidate the individual and community health burden of body dissatisfaction (BD), we examined impairment in quality of life associated with BD in a large, general population sample of women.

Objective: The present study examined the relationship between experiences of discrimination and occurrence of binge eating among overweight and obese persons, a population which has previously shown elevated rates of binge eating. Methods: Internet-based questionnaires were used to measure frequency and impact of discrimination, binge eating frequency, and emotional eating. Results: Pearson correlation analyses demonstrated significant positive relationships between the measures of discrimination and measures of eating behaviors (r = 0.12–0.37). Regression models significantly predicted between 17 and 33% of the variance of emotional eating scores and frequency of binge eating; discrimination measures contributed significantly and independently to the variance in emotional eating and binge eating. Weight bias internalization was found to be a partial mediator of the relationship between discrimination and eating disturbance. Conclusion: Results demonstrate the relationship of discrimination to binge eating. Weight bias internalization may be an important mechanism for this relationship and a potential treatment target.