Adverse effects of social pressure to be thin on young women: An experimental investigation of the effects of “fat talk”

Stice, Eric; Maxfield, Jennifer; Wells, Tony T.

doi:10.1002/eat.10171

Cited by 214 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…Future research could address this through experimental designs, for example by replicating earlier fat talk research (e.g., Stice et al, 2003) with men, and through longitudinal research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction?

Jankowski¹,

Diedrichs²,

Halliwell³

2014

Psychology of Men & Masculinity

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Men’s body dissatisfaction is prevalent and a serious health concern as it is associated with negative outcomes including depression, disordered eating, and anabolic steroid abuse. Gay men are particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, perhaps due to heightened sociocultural appearance pressures experienced in gay subculture. Appearance conversations represent an underresearched, but potentially potent, mechanism of appearance pressures. The current study explored whether differences in the frequency of engaging in appearance conversations accounted for differences in body dissatisfaction and associated risk factors among gay and heterosexual men. A purposeful sample of gay (N = 77, Mage = 32.57) and heterosexual (N = 78, Mage = 25.30) men were recruited from community organizations in the United Kingdom. Participants completed an online questionnaire assessing appearance conversations, body dissatisfaction, appearance orientation, and internalization of appearance ideals. Gay men reported more frequent engagement in positive and negative appearance conversations and greater body dissatisfaction, appearance orientation, and general internalization than heterosexual men. Moreover, frequency of appearance conversations mediated the relationship between sexuality and the majority of study variables, including body dissatisfaction (ps < .05). These findings suggest that appearance conversations are an important sociocultural influence on male body image and that they are important in understanding the differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction and associated risk factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction?

Jankowski¹,

Diedrichs²,

Halliwell³

2014

Psychology of Men & Masculinity

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show abstract

“…In turn, hearing fat talk (Joasnes et al, 2014;Stice et al, 2003) and, even more strongly, participating in fat-talk (Arroyo & Harwood, 2012;Jones et al, 2014) predicts increased body dissatisfaction. Thus, fat-talk appears to be prompted by and also fuels negative body image.…”

Section: Positive Body Image and Social Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future directions for positive body image research

Halliwell

2015

Body Image

167

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“…Furthermore, this type of dialog has the potential to create harm. Stice et al (2003) found that when collegeaged women engaged in a conversation with a thin, attractive confederate who expressed body dissatisfaction, participants felt worse about their own bodies, compared to when exposed to a neutral conversation topic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Gender Differences in Fat Talk Among American Adults: Results from the Psychology of Size Survey

et al. 2009

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Vignettes were used to assess gender differences in likelihood of hearing others engage in and perceived pressure to join in positive, negative (fat talk), and self-accepting body talk. An agerepresentative sample of 4,014 adult women and men voluntarily responded to an emailed "Health and Wellness" survey from an internet polling company with whom they had preregistered. Women reported more likelihood of hearing fat-talk scenarios and greater pressure to participate in them compared to men. Only a subset of participants reported frequent exposure to and pressure to join in fat talk. Demographic predictors of pressure to engage in fat talk were also examined. This was the first survey to examine body talk among older adults.

show abstract

Adverse effects of social pressure to be thin on young women: An experimental investigation of the effects of “fat talk”

Cited by 214 publications

References 28 publications

Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction?

Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men’s body dissatisfaction?

Future directions for positive body image research

Gender Differences in Fat Talk Among American Adults: Results from the Psychology of Size Survey

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