Experiencing weight-related pressure in adolescence can profoundly impact self-perception in adulthood, a recent study revealed.
Individuals bullied or pressured to lose weight by family or media faced a heightened risk of internalized weight stigma, as per new long-term research.
Researchers said that women, people in sexual minorities and deprived adults were also at higher risk.
Internalized weight stigma is when people apply negative obesity-related stereotypes to themselves, such as thinking they are less attractive, less competent or less valuable as a person because of their weight, experts said.
People with internalized weight stigma are more likely to have disordered eating and poor mental health, they added.
Academics, led by a team from the University of Bristol, collected data over a 32-year period.
Their new study, published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health: Europe, found that feeling pressure from family to lose weight, weight-related teasing by family members and feeling pressure from the media to lose weight as a teenager were all linked to higher levels of internalized weight stigma at age 31.
The analysis of over 4,000 people also found that being bullied in adolescence and in early adulthood was linked to weight stigma at 31.
"The family environment in adolescence, bullying and pressure to lose weight from the media may have long-lasting impacts on how people value themselves based on their weight as adults," said Dr. Amanda Hughes, research fellow in the Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences and corresponding author of the paper.
"We have an opportunity to reduce weight stigma and its consequences by changing how we discuss weight in the media, in public spaces and in families, and how we respond to bullying in schools, workplaces and other settings.
"This is crucial considering how common pressure to lose weight and weight-related bullying, stigma and discrimination are in many cultures around the world."
Tom Quinn, director of external affairs at the charity Beat, said: "We know that feelings of guilt and shame around weight, as well as facing pressure to lose weight, can be contributing factors in developing an eating disorder or exacerbating an existing one.
"The media can play a crucial role in this, and a major overhaul of the language used around weight and body size is desperately needed.
"There is a real lack of research around eating disorders, particularly with studies that focus on underrepresented communities.
"This vital research highlights the long-lasting and devastating effects of weight stigma which we see every day at Beat."
