Adolescent Girls' Negative Body Talk, Body Dissatisfaction, and State Friendship Quality (2011)

Undergraduates: Lauren Danzi, Whitney Brechwald and Diana Rancourt Anna Bardone-Cone (faculty consultant)

Faculty Advisor: Mitch Prinstein
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Research is mixed on the role of negative body talk (i.e., “fat talk”) in conferring vulnerability to disordered eating and predictors of physical and psychological unhealthy eating patterns. This study used observational research of adolescent female friends to test hypotheses linking negative body talk with increased disordered eating attitudes, decreased body satisfaction, and high levels of internalization of the thin ideal. This study also examined the influence of first-person pronoun use during negative body talk on state body satisfaction and state friendship quality using moderator analyses. Results indicate that negative body talk is associated with increased disordered eating, decreased body satisfaction, and high levels of thin-ideal internalization. Results additionally found that the interaction of first-person pronoun use and negative talk was not significantly associated with state body satisfaction or state friendship quality, but main effects were significant. This study provides support for previous research linking negative body talk with maladaptive outcomes, and provides support for future research in the areas of linguistics of body talk and body talk within friendships.