Verbal denigration of personal body size and shape (“fat talk”) and engagement in social comparison has been linked to the development of body dissatisfaction and eating disordered behaviour. A key question is whether the relationship between these two predictors is additive or multiplicative, as the latter relationship would imply a far more serious impact on body dissatisfaction. A previous report has suggested a multiplicative relationship, and in two separate studies we replicated this study. In each study, female participants filled in fat talk, social comparison and body dissatisfaction measures. In the first study, 189 UK participants took part and in the second study, 371 US participants took part. Both studies found significant correlations between all three measures but no interaction effect, consistent with an additive not a multiplicative relationship. In a further test, we used a mini meta-analysis to combine the results of the two studies reported here with the results of the original study. Again, we found no evidence of an interaction. In conclusion, these studies show an additive relationship between fat talk and social comparison, suggesting their impact on body image is serious but not as serious as previously reported.
A systematic review and meta-analysis on the longitudinal relationship between eating pathology and depression
