Development and psychometric evaluation of a quantitative measure of "fat talk".
Based on her anthropological research, Nichter (2000) concluded that it is normative for many American girls to engage in body self-disparagement in the form of "fat talk." The purpose of the present two studies was to develop a quantitative measure of fat talk. A series of 17 scenarios were created in which "Naomi" is talking with a female friend(s) and there is an expression of fat talk. College women respondents rated the frequency with which they would behave in a similar way as the women in each scenario. A nine-item one-factor scale was determined through principal components analysis and its scores yielded evidence of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability over a five-week time period, construct validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity in that it predicted unique variance in body shame and eating disorder symptoms above and beyond other measures of self-objectification.
Kenyon College, Psychology, Samuel Mather Hall, Gambier, OH 43022, United States.
Paige
P
MacDonald Clarke
Sarah K
SK
Murnen
Linda
L
Smolak
D000293:Adolescent; D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011209:Power, Psychological; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012752:Shame; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult