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1. Introduction
Obesity rates in the USA have increased dramatically over the past few decades. From 1962 to 2006, obesity rates rose from 13.4 to 35.1 per cent in US adults of age 20-74 (Flegal et al., 2010). In fact, within the past three decades, the prevalence of adults with obesity has grown from about 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion globally (Ng et al., 2014). There are negative social consequences to having obesity including weight-based discrimination in a variety of settings such as work, education and health care (Puhl and Brownell, 2006), and this kind of stigma and discrimination can significantly predict psychological distress (Savoy et al., 2012; Zhao et al., 2009). Work settings represent a major arena where overweight people may be subject to discriminatory attitudes and biases including prejudice, insensitivity and inequity (Puhl and Brownell, 2001). According to Borak (2011), employees with obesity “take more sick days, have longer sick leaves and incur greater productivity losses than do non-obese workers” (p. 220). There is a growing body of evidence linking obesity to reduced psychological well-being and functioning, including higher risks for anxiety and depression (Gariepy et al., 2010; Hatzenbuehler et al., 2009). One explanation for this link stems from the disadvantages that accrue to individuals with obesity in both private and working life (Zhao et al., 2009). Although there have been a plethora of research conducted to identify common types of prejudice, their prevalence and consequences in the workplace for individuals with obesity, there is still room for additional research given that there have been inconsistent findings as to the nature, extent and consequences of weight-related prejudice in the workplace (Puhl and Brownell, 2001; Puhl et al., 2008; Roehling et al., 2013).
Social support in its many forms and sources has been identified as a resource that can help workers cope with work stress. It has been fronted as a proposed buffer against deleterious effects of stress and mental health (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2009). Huffman et al. (2008) argue that different types of support are unique constructs and relate differentially to individual attitudes. They propose that there are differences in the types of support provided to employees based on the...