"I just don't want to be fat!": body talk, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms in mother-adolescent girl dyads

Abstract

Purpose: Mothers serve as a primary socializing figure among adolescent girls at a time when they are at high risk of body image concerns and disordered eating behavior, and this influence may vary by weight status. Body talk may be one mechanisms of influence in this relationship. The current study utilized an observational measure of body talk to investigate the relationship between adolescent girls' body talk with mothers, eating disorder symptoms, and body dissatisfaction.

Methods: Participants included 100 mother-daughter dyads who completed self-report measures of body dissatisfaction and eating behavior and engaged in a 10-min discussion about the daughter's body image.

Results: Results indicated that the relationship between both positive and negative body talk and body dissatisfaction varied by weight status. For healthy/underweight adolescents, negative body talk is related to higher body dissatisfaction (b = 0.04, SE 0.01, p < 0.01) and positive talk is related to lower body dissatisfaction (b = - 0.06, SE 0.02, p < 0.001). No relationship was found for individuals of overweight/obese status. Body talk was unrelated to eating disorder symptoms for all adolescents.

Conclusions: Given the current findings, mothers should continue to limit their engagement in body talk (particularly negative talk) within the home.

Level of evidence: V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Keywords: Adolescence; BMI; Body dissatisfaction; Body talk; Eating disorder symptoms; Parent–child.