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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate “fat talk” conversations about weight and body dissatisfaction within college dancers. Participants were 116 female undergraduates who were dancers/dance majors (n = 20), dancers/nondance majors (n = 32), and nondancers (n = 63). Participants responded to hypothetical fat-talk scenarios, the Body Esteem Scale (BES; Franzoi and Shields 1984), and a demographic questionnaire. Dancers who were nondance majors reported that they would engage in more fat talk than nondancers and dance majors; there were no differences among the groups on scores on the BES. The study determined that severity of self-critical fat talk negatively predicted BES scores. This research provides insight into the frequency and critical nature of fat talk and body dissatisfaction in college dancers and can be used to increase awareness for both instructors and students of the harmful consequences of engaging in fat talk.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This article is based on the first author's master's thesis in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University, under the mentorship of the second author.
Notes
1A one way, between-groups ANOVA examines whether or not two or more levels of one independent variable have significantly different means for one dependent variable.
2A one-way, between-groups ANCOVA examines whether or not two or more levels of one independent variable have significantly different means for one dependent variable after adjusting these means for differences on another variable (the covariate).
3A hierarchical regression analysis examines whether or not a significant linear combination of multiple variables can be made to predict levels of one criterion (dependent) variable. The researcher decides when each predictor variable is entered in the linear combination a priori and typically according to theory.
4A one-way, within-subjects ANOVA examines whether or not each participant's scores from two or levels of one independent variable are significantly different on average; each participant is compared to herself.