Although body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness are commonplace in college-aged women, their relationships with fat talk and stress are understudied. This study examined (a) whether fat talk predicts body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness and (b) whether stress moderates these relationships. Results from self-report questionnaires completed by 121 female college students revealed that fat talk and perceived stress were significantly positively correlated with body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. Although fat talk was a significant independent predictor of body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, stress moderated these relationships such that they were stronger at lower stress levels. Although contrary to predictions, these results are logical when means are considered. Results suggest that fat talk positively predicts body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in students with relatively lower stress levels, but does not for students under high stress because mean levels of these constructs are all already high.
Research suggests that fat talk is commonplace among college-aged women living in Western cultural contexts, such as the United States, Australia, and Western Europe (Ousley et al., 2008, Payne et al., 2011 and Salk and Engeln-Maddox, 2011). Frequently defined as negative interpersonal communication about one's physical appearance, eating, and exercise behaviors (Nichter, 2000 and Salk and Engeln-Maddox, 2011), fat talk frequently manifests as self-disparaging comments about one's current or future weight (e.g., “I’m so fat”; “I am going to get fat”), eating behavior (e.g., “I shouldn’t be eating this”), or body shape (e.g., “My hips look so big in this dress”) during social interactions ( Clarke et al., 2010 and Ousley et al., 2008). For example, in a recent study examining fat talk in female college students, 93% reported engaging in fat talk with their friends ( Salk & Engeln-Maddox, 2011). Similarly, using two experimental studies to assess whether college students perceive verbal body degradation as normative during social interactions, both male and female participants reported that women in social situations overhearing fat talk would be more likely to engage in negative body commentary than positive or neutral body talk ( Britton, Martz, Bazzini, Curtin, & LeaShomb, 2006). This effect appears to be true independent of one's actual body size: a recent study found that college students perceive engagement in fat talk as more typical and less surprising than positive body talk whether a woman is of average weight or overweight ( Barwick, Bazzini, Martz, Rocheleau, & Curtin, 2012).
