The impact of different responses to fat talk on body image and socioemotional outcomes

Abstract

Fat talk, the act of making disparaging comments about one's own appearance, has been associated with an extensive range of negative body image outcomes. Despite this well-established body of literature highlighting the prevalence and consequences, scant research exists on the impact of different responses to fat talk in situ. The current online experiment aimed to explore four different responses to fat talk and their impact on body satisfaction, shame, and feelings of support. Female participants (N = 191, Mage = 23.52, SDage = 4.54, rangeage = 18-40) recalled or imagined an experience of engaging in fat talk before being randomly assigned to receive a set response (where their fat talk wa..