Weight status, negative body talk, and body dissatisfaction: A dyadic analysis of male friends

Adolescent-perceived parent-child negative body talk and disordered eating: Evidence for behavior-specific affective mediators

INTRODUCTION

This study examined the mediating role of general negative affect and body-specific negative affect between the association between negative body talk occurring within the mother-daughter relationship and restrained and disinhibited disordered eating.

METHODS

Adolescent girls (N = 100; Mage = 14.25; 49.5% White) completed self-report measures of general negative affect (depression and anxiety), body-specific negative affect (body dissatisfaction), and perceptions of the frequency that negative body talk occurred in interactions with their mother (initiated by the mother or daughter) as part of a cross-sectional study. While the same set of questionnaires was administered to both mothers and daughters, only the data reported by the daughters were analyzed and included in this study. Data were gathered in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area of Michigan, USA, around the year 2015.

RESULTS

Path analysis showed that general negative affect, but not body-specific negative affect, mediated the association from mother-daughter negative body talk to disinhibited eating behaviors (emotional and external eating). Conversely, body-specific negative affect, but not general negative affect, mediated the association from negative body talk to restrained eating behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest there are distinct affective mechanisms that mediate the relationship between mother-daughter negative body talk and restrained versus disinhibited eating behavior. Future work should continue to explicate the role of general and body-related negative affect in different eating behaviors.

The association between negative body talk and body shame on disordered eating symptoms among college students

Negative body talk (NBT), defined as negative communication about one's body, is associated with disordered eating, yet factors that may enhance these effects are understudied. Using objectification theory as a framework, NBT may reflect a vocal manifestation of self-objectification and endorsement of body shame may enhance the association between NBT and disordered eating. Given relatively consistent NBT and objectification theory-based conclusions across male and female college samples, the current study hypothesized that for college students high in body shame, NBT would be more strongly associated with disordered eating than for those low in body shame. A total of 849 college students (77.4 % female) completed measures of NBT (sex-specific), body shame, and eating disorder symptoms. Negative binomial regressions tested hypotheses separately by sex. Moderation results identified that the association between NBT and eating disorder symptoms was stronger for females reporting lower body shame compared to higher body shame. Among males, only significant main effects of NBT and body shame were observed. Body image and disordered eating preventive interventions may benefit from targeting NBT and/or body shame in males and females, and college females reporting lower body shame may be at greatest risk for the negative impact of NBT.

Mother-daughter negative body talk as a moderator between body surveillance and body shame in adolescent girls

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of mother-daughter communication about their bodies on adolescent girls' and mothers' body shame.

METHODS

The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was utilized to estimate relationships between individuals' body surveillance and their own body shame (actor effect), individuals' body surveillance and the other member's body shame (partner effect), and negative body talk and both members' body shame (relationship effect) in a sample of 100 mother-daughter dyads.

RESULTS

For both mothers and daughters, individuals who had higher body surveillance reported higher body shame. Negative body talk emerged as a significant moderator: girls with higher body surveillance experienced greater body shame when they engaged in more negative body talk with their mothers.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight the need for clinicians to address mothers' own surveillance and body shame, as well as negative body talk between mothers and daughters, in interventions that seek to reduce the impact of objectification on body shame in adolescents.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

"I just don't want to be fat!": body talk, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms in mother-adolescent girl dyads

PURPOSE

Mothers serve as a primary socializing figure among adolescent girls at a time when they are at high risk of body image concerns and disordered eating behavior, and this influence may vary by weight status. Body talk may be one mechanisms of influence in this relationship. The current study utilized an observational measure of body talk to investigate the relationship between adolescent girls' body talk with mothers, eating disorder symptoms, and body dissatisfaction.

METHODS

Participants included 100 mother-daughter dyads who completed self-report measures of body dissatisfaction and eating behavior and engaged in a 10-min discussion about the daughter's body image.

RESULTS

Results indicated that the relationship between both positive and negative body talk and body dissatisfaction varied by weight status. For healthy/underweight adolescents, negative body talk is related to higher body dissatisfaction (b = 0.04, SE 0.01, p < 0.01) and positive talk is related to lower body dissatisfaction (b = - 0.06, SE 0.02, p < 0.001). No relationship was found for individuals of overweight/obese status. Body talk was unrelated to eating disorder symptoms for all adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the current findings, mothers should continue to limit their engagement in body talk (particularly negative talk) within the home.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Fear of fat and restrained eating: negative body talk between female friends as a moderator

PURPOSE

This study examined whether engagement in negative body talk would moderate the association between fear of fat and restrained eating among female friend dyads.

METHODS

Female friends (N_pairs = 130) were recruited from a Midwestern university in the United States. The dyadic data were examined with an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM).

RESULTS

Results showed that women's fear of fat was significantly related to their own restrained eating behaviors. In contrast, women's fear of fat was not significantly related to their friends' restrained eating behaviors. Negative body talk was significantly related to restrained eating, as reported by both friends. The interaction between negative body talk and women's own fear of fat was found to be significant. Although women with less fear of fat showed less restrained eating, engaging in more negative body talk with a friend increased their engagement in restrained eating. Women with more fear of fat engaged in more restrained eating, regardless of their engagement in negative body talk.

CONCLUSION

Given the detrimental role of body talk between fear of fat and restrained eating, interventions may target reducing body talk among young women.

NO LEVEL OF EVIDENCE FOR

Basic science, Animal study, Cadaver study, and Experimental study articles.

Interactive role of weight status and fat talk on body dissatisfaction: an observation of women friends

PURPOSE

The current study examined the interactive role of weight status and fat talk on body dissatisfaction among women friends.

METHOD

Sixty pairs of women friends completed a measure of body dissatisfaction and engaged in an observed fat talk interaction with their friend.

RESULTS

Women's weight status was related to their own, but not their friend's, body dissatisfaction. Observed fat talk was significantly related to individuals' own and their friend's body dissatisfaction. A significant interaction effect showed that the association between fat talk and body dissatisfaction was minimal for women with higher weight status. In contrast, fat talk was associated with more body dissatisfaction for women with lower weight status.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest the importance of examining the conjoint effect of personal (e.g., weight status) and contextual (e.g., fat talk) factors on body image issues.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Citizen sociolinguistics: A new method to understand fat talk

FAT TALK AND CITIZEN SCIENCE

Fat talk is a spontaneous verbal interaction in which interlocutors make self-disparaging comments about the body, usually as a request for assessment. Fat talk often reflects concerns about the self that stem from broader sociocultural factors. It is therefore an important target for sociocultural linguistics. However, real-time studies of fat talk are uncommon due to the resource and time burdens required to capture these fleeting utterances. This limits the scope of data produced using standard sociolinguistic methods. Citizen science may alleviate these burdens by producing a scale of social observation not afforded via traditional methods. Here we present a proof-of-concept for a novel methodology, citizen sociolinguistics. This research approach involves collaborations with citizen researchers to capture forms of conversational data that are typically inaccessible, including fat talk.

AIMS AND OUTCOMES

This study had two primary aims. Aim 1 focused on scientific output, testing a novel research strategy wherein citizen sociolinguists captured fat talk data in a diverse metropolitan region (Southwestern United States). Results confirm that citizen sociolinguistic research teams captured forms of fat talk that mirrored the scripted responses previously reported. However, they also capture unique forms of fat talk, likely due to greater diversity in sample and sampling environments. Aim 2 focused on the method itself via reflective exercises shared by the citizen sociolinguists throughout the project. In addition to confirming that the citizen sociolinguistic method produces reliable, scientifically valid data, we contend that citizen sociolinguist inclusion has broader scientific benefits which include applied scientific training, fostering sustained relationships between professional researchers and the public, and producing novel, meaningful scientific output that advances professional discourse.

Negative body talk measures for Asian, Latina(o), and White women and men: Measurement equivalence and associations with ethnic-racial identity

Negative body talk measures have been developed with predominantly White, female samples. We tested measurement invariance (equivalence) of two available negative body talk scales for Asian, Latina(o), and White college women and men in the U.S. In Study 1 (n = 1501 women; n = 1436 men), multiple group confirmatory factor analyses indicated scalar (strong) invariance across groups for the Negative Body Talk (Engeln-Maddox, Salk, & Miller, 2012) and Male Body Talk (Sladek, Engeln, & Miller, 2014) scales, suggesting these measures can be used to test mean group differences. Ethnic group comparisons adjusting for body mass index (BMI) showed similarities overall; few differences that emerged had small effect sizes. In Study 2 (n = 227 women; n = 141 men), greater ethnic-racial identity resolution was associated with less frequent negative body talk for Latina and Asian women but more frequent muscularity-focused negative body talk for Asian men, adjusting for BMI.