Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

I’M Not Just Fat, I’M Old: Has The Study Of Body Image Talk Overlooked “Old Talk?”, Carolyn Becker, Phillippa C. Diedrichs, G. Jankowski, Chelsey Werchan

Psychology Faculty Research

Background: Research indicates that body dissatisfaction is correlated with and often predictive of both physical and mental health problems. “Fat talk,” a well-studied form of body image talk in adolescents and university-aged women, has been implicated as contributing to body dissatisfaction and mediating the relationship between body dissatisfaction and other mental health problems. Limited research, however, has investigated fat talk across the female lifespan. Further, consistent with most body image research, fat talk research solely focuses on the thin dimension of idealized female attractiveness, even though other dimensions may contribute to body dissatisfaction in women.

Method: The current study investigated …