Dear Prudence Urges Mother to Back Off 28-Year-Old Daughter’s Weight as Stigma Doubles Health Risk
Updated
Updated · Slate · May 20
Dear Prudence Urges Mother to Back Off 28-Year-Old Daughter’s Weight as Stigma Doubles Health Risk
1 articles · Updated · Slate · May 20
A Dear Prudence response told a mother worried about her 28-year-old daughter’s weight, depression and stalled career not to push diet or exercise advice, warning that criticism would likely add harm.
A 2017 study cited in the column found people facing higher weight stigma had more than twice the risk of high allostatic load, which is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality.
Instead of focusing on weight, the advice urged the mother to support her daughter’s happiness directly — through visits, calls, family inclusion and gifts tied to her interests.
The daughter lives six hours away, works part-time after six years in her field, wants a relationship and has resisted therapy, leaving the mother asking whether support now means stepping back.
When a mother's advice becomes a health risk, how can she truly support her struggling adult daughter?
Is our cultural obsession with weight masking a loneliness crisis that is just as deadly as smoking?