I’m not just fat, I’m old: has the study of body image overlooked “old talk”?

Abstract

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 whether or not “old talk,” a hereto un-described form of body image talk, appears to be a parallel, but distinct, form of body image talk that taps into the young dimension of the thin-young-ideal standard of female beauty. An international, internet sample of women (aged 18-87, N = 914) completed questionnaires aimed at assessing fat talk, old talk, body image disturbance, and eating disorder pathology.

Results: Results indicated that both fat talk and old talk were reported by women across the lifespan, although they evidenced different trajectories of frequency. Like fat talk, old talk was significantly correlated with body image disturbance and eating disorder pathology, albeit at a lower rate than fat talk in the total sample. Old talk was more highly correlated with ageing appearance anxiety than fat talk, and the correlation between old talk and body image disturbance and ED pathology increased with women’s ages.

Conclusion: Results suggest that old talk is a form of body image talk that is related to but distinct from fat talk. Old talk appears to be similarly problematic to fat talk for women whose age increases their deviation from the thin-young-ideal. Further research into the phenomenon of old talk is warranted as is increased attention to fat talk across the full lifespan of women.

Full text

RES E AR C H A R T I C L E Open Access
I’m not just fat, I’m old: has the study of body
image overlooked “old talk”?
Carolyn Black Becker
1*
, Phillippa C Diedrichs
2
, Glen Jankowski
2
and Chelsey Werchan
1
Abstract
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 whether or not “old talk,” a hereto un-described form of body image talk,
appears to be a parallel, but distinct, form of body image talk that taps into the young dimension of the thin-young
-ideal standard of female beauty. An international, internet sample of women (aged 18–87, N = 914) completed
questionnaires aimed at assessing fat talk, old talk, body image disturbance, and eating disorder pathology.
Results: Results indicated that both fat talk and old talk were reported by women across the lifespan, although they
evidenced different trajectories of frequency. Like fat talk, old talk was significantly correlated with body image
disturbance and eating disorder pathology, albeit at a lower rate than fat talk in the total sample. Old talk was more
highly correlated with ageing appearance anxiety than fat talk, and the correlation between old talk and body image
disturbance and ED pathology increased with women’s ages.
Conclusion: Results suggest that old talk is a form of body image talk that is related to but distinct from fat talk. Old
talk appears to be similarly problematic to fat talk for women whose age increases their deviation from the thin-young
-ideal. Further research into the phenomenon of old talk is warranted as is increased attention to fat talk across the full
lifespan of women.
Keywords: Old talk, Fat talk, Body image, Body dissatisfaction, Eating disorders, Self objectification, Ageing, Ageing
anxiety
Background
Substantial research indicates that body dissatisfaction
broadly defined is highly correlated with, and often lon-
gitudinally predictive of, both physical and mental health
problems [1,2]. For example, among adolescent girls,
researchers have found tha t body dissatisfaction (e.g., as
measured by standardized questionnaires such as the
Body Shape Satisfaction Scale [3]) prospectively predicts
increases in binge eating, emotional eating, stress, low
self-esteem, depression, use of unhealthy weight control
behaviors, decreased physical activity, and, among
overweight girls, increased weight gain between 1–5
years later [4-6]. Although most research on body dissat-
isfaction has been conducted with females, existing re-
search, which is largely cross-sectional, suggests that
body dissatisfaction in males is a ssociated with eating
disorders (ED), steroid use, poor psycholog ical adjust-
ment, and exercise dependence [7].
Ageing and body image
In addition to disproportionally targeting females, past
body image research also has largely focused on a nar-
row age range, namely adolescent s and university-aged
women [8]. This is despite the fact that there is little evi-
dence to suggest that graduation from university is
* Correspondence: cbecker@trinity.edu
1
Department of Psychology, One Trinity Place, Trinity University, San Antonio,
TX 78212, USA
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2013 Becker et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Becker et al. Journal of Eating Disorders 2013, 1:6
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associated with a graduation from body image concerns.
The limited research on body image in older women
suggests that body dissatisfaction is relatively compar-
able in younger and older women [8-11]. Cross-sectional
research also supports a relationship between body dis-
satisfaction in adult women and depression, decreased
quality of life, fewer pleasant feelings, increased negative
feelings, increased ED pathology, and decreased self-care
[12,13]. Finally, body dissatisfaction in adult women
smokers prospectively predicts greater difficulty quitting
smoking [14].
There are reasons to think that body dissatisfaction
might actually increase as women age [8]. For example,
normal ageing typically moves women’s body weight/
shape further away from the thin-ideal standard of fe-
male beauty in Western culture. Moreover, as women
age, they encounter a variety of developmental stages
that may accelerate this movement away from the thin-
ideal. Some examples include pregnancy, decrea sed time
for exercise and self-care secondary to demands of work,
home, and/or childcare, menopause, and possibly the
use of medications that may increase weight. Demands
on young adult and midlife women to conform to the
thin-ideal also have increased with the media’s focus on
pregnant celebrity women, who are lauded for losing
weight post-pregnancy quickly and returning to their
“pre-baby” bodies (e.g., http://thestir.cafemom.com/preg-
nancy/144512/7_celebrity_moms_whose_postbaby).
Adding to this pressure is the fact that the thin-ideal is
also a young-ideal. As e vidence of this, there has been a
proliferation of interest in, and advertising of, anti-
ageing cosmetic product s, pharmaceuticals and surgical
procedures, all of which are marketed to women with
the underlying message that a youthful, wrinkle-free ap-
pearance is ideal [15]. Similarly, models depicted in the
media are predominantly thin and young, with a recent
content analysis of advertisements in popular North
American women’s magazines concluding that 80 .72% of
the models were aged 18– 30 years [16]. Thus, as women
age, they increasingly move away not just from being
thin but also from fulfilling the young element of the
thin-young-ideal. Accordingly, ageing creates new op-
portunities for disc repancies between women’s bodies
and cultura l beauty ideals.
Indeed, cross-sectional research supports a relation-
ship between ageing anxiety and both body dissatisfac-
tion and EDs [17]. As such, the relative stability of body
dissatisfaction across age groups is, in some ways, sur-
prising. Some e vidence, however, suggests that older
women may more frequently employ cognitive strategies
to partially offset their increa sing distance from our soci-
eties’ conceptualization of the ideal woman [8,11,12]. It
also may be that the nature of women’s body image
concerns change and that they have not been adequately
assessed by approaches that were developed with, and
for, younger women. Lastly, there may be cohort effects.
More specifically, researchers may increasingly find
higher levels of body dissatisfaction in older women over
time as these women have grown up in a more toxic
body image climate than those of previous generations.
We should note that although most research suggests
that cross-sectional samples across the female lifespan re-
port similar levels of body dissatisfaction on standardized
measures, a few studies indicate that body dissatisfaction
is slightly lower in some (but not all) domains for women
in older adulthood (i.e., over age 60) [8,13,18-20]. For in-
stance, in a large cross-sectional sample of women over
50, being older was associated with decreased concern in
certain facets of body image (e.g., that weight or shape
negatively affected life, lesser importance of weight or
body shape on self-perception), but not others (e.g. being
moderately to extremely upset with gaining five pounds
[18]). In summary, women across the lifespan appear to
report similarly elevated levels of dissatisfaction with their
bodies, although women in older adulthood (60 years and
older) may report less dissatisfaction in some domains
such as a perception that weight and shape negatively
affected life, in comparison to younger women [18].
Fat talk and old talk
Numerous sociocultural, intrapersonal and interpersonal
factors contribute to girls and women’s body dissatisfac-
tion. One factor that has received increasing attention is
“fat talk” (e.g., “I’m so fat,”“Wow, you look great, have
you lost weight?”). The term fat talk was coined by
Nichter and Vuckovic [21,22] to describe the body image
talk in which pre- and adolescent girls engage when
talking about the size and shape of their bodies. Nichter
and Vukovic reported that this population used fat talk
for impression management (i.e., to increase social
likeability and decrease perceptions of arrogance). Fat talk
is hypothesized to increase a sense of inter-connectedness
between girls and women; yet at the same time, fat talk
reinforces the thin-ideal and decreases the opportunity for
girls to interact in more meaningful ways.
Empirical research has since documented that fat talk
also is common in college-aged women [23,24] and per-
nicious. In cross-sectional samples, fat talk is associated
with body dissatisfaction, d rive for thinness , internaliza-
tion of the thin-ideal, and ED pa thology [ 23-25]. Clarke,
Murnen, and Smolak [26] found that fat talk predicted
unique variance in ED symptoms and body shame.
Further, Stice, Maxfield and Wells [27] found that a
mere 3–5 minutes of e xposure to fat talk significantly
increased body dissatisfaction among undergraduate
women, a s compared to expo sure to non-appearance
-related conversations. Finally, Arroyo and Harwood
[28] found e vidence that fat talk explains a significant
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amount of variance in body dissatisfaction, perceived pres-
sure to be thin and depression. This research also found
that FT longitudinally mediated the relationship between
negative body image and broader mental health concerns.
To our knowledge, only one study examined fat talk in
an older sample (i.e., M age = 45). Martz, Petroff, Curtin,
and Bazzini [29] found that women reported that, in
their own lives, situations involving fat talk were signifi-
cantly more likely to occur as compared to situations in-
volving self-accepting or positive body talk. Thirty-one
percent of women reported high exposure to fat talk and
the mean rating of fat talk exposure was 2.74 with a
score of 3 bein g equated to “usually”. Although Martz
et al. [29] comment that these frequencies seem rela-
tively low, the findings by Stice et al. [27] suggest that
fairly low levels of exposure to fat talk can have a signifi-
cant, negative effect. Indeed, Stice et al. [27] stated that
it was “noteworthy that such a brief and subtle manipu-
lation” yie lded an effect of medium size (p. 113).
In 2008, the Tri Delta sorority launched Fat Talk Free
W
Week, aimed at raising awareness of fat talk and encour-
aging people to stop fat talk. Since 2008, this advo cacy
campaign has become both annual and international,
and various locations have been declared Fat Talk Free
W
Zones. In 2011, the owner of a pilates studio that was a
dedicated Fat Talk Free
W
Zone contacted the first author
and asked what she was supposed to do about pro blem-
atic “old talk” (e.g., “I look so old”, “Look at these
wrinkles”, “Do you want to come to a Botox party?”), in
which women of a variety of ages engaged (e.g., women
in their 30’s, 40’s and older). In response to this, we
began listening to conversations around us and in the
media. We also searched the literature for any references
to old or ageing talk and its relationship to body image.
Although we observed the phenomenon described by
the studio owner, we were unable to find any social sci-
ence literature specifically pertaining to this form of
body talk behavior. We hypothesized that old talk is a
distinct but, until now, unstudied form of body image
talk, and therefore concluded that it was worthy of at
least a preliminary investigation.
Current study
The primary aim of this mixed-methods study was to a)
assess the self-reported frequency of old talk, b) gain a
preliminary understanding of the content of old talk,
and c) investigate whether it, like fat talk, is associated
with negative body image, self-objectification, and ED
pathology. Given that body image is multi-dimensional,
we chose to assess several different facets of body image
that have been studied in connection to fat talk includ-
ing body satisfaction, thin-ideal inte rnalization, drive for
thinness as well as the related construct of self-
objectification. We also assessed anxiety related to aging
appearance. Because only one paper has examined fat
talk in a broad age range and we needed to study old
talk across the female adult lifespan, we also sought to
investigate fat talk in the same sample and to compare
the two forms of body image talk. Finally, since the
overwhelming majority of fat talk research has been
conducted within the United States (USA), we expanded
the geographical boundaries of our study to the United
Kingdom (UK) and Australia. We outline our specific
hypotheses for this study below.
With regards to fat talk we hypothesized that: 1) fat
talk would be a common occurrence (i.e., that we would
find fat talk across all ages, and rates of fat talk would
remain largely unchanged across age groups), 2) consist-
ent with Salk and Englen-Maddox’s [24] failure to find a
correlation between fat talk and weight, we would find
fat talk across women of all body weights, 3) we would
find a third person effect for frequency of fat talk in
friends, family and the media based on Salk and Englen-
Maddox’s [24] finding the participants reported more fat
talk in others versus themselves.
With regards to old talk, we hyp othesized that: 1)
participants would report engaging in old talk, though at
a lower rate than fat talk since younger women naturally
conform to the young part of the thin-young-ideal, 2)
that old talk would predominantly occur among women
aged 30 and older and would increase significantly with
age, 3) that we would find third person effects for
friends, family and the media.
Regarding correlations with body image, self-
objectification, and ED related variables, we hypothesized
that: 1) since both fat talk and old talk represent some de-
gree of buy-in to the thin-young-ideal, both would be sig-
nificantly correlated with body image, self-objectification,
and ED pathology measures, 2) fat talk and old talk would
correlate with each other, but not perfectly, suggesting
that fat talk and old talk are related but not identical
constructs, 3) we would consistently find higher
correlations with fat talk, as compared to old talk, for all
body image, self-objectification, and ED measures except
appearance ageing anxiety, which would correlate more
closely with old talk. The rationale for hypothesis one is
that both are likely associated with internalization of the
thin-young ideal. We had no hypotheses about the quali-
tative data. Our primary goal was to determine if we found
similar fat talk content to that reported by Salk and
Englen-Maddox [24] in their mixed-methods fat talk study
with college women and to see if old talk content was
similar to what we found for fat talk or not.
Methods
Participants
A snowballing sample of adult women from the USA,
UK and Australia was recruited to complete an
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anonymous, online questionnaire. A total of 914 women,
aged 18–87 years (M = 36.80, SD = 13.48) consented to
take part in the study and completed at least one portion
of the questionnaire. Table 1 presents a demographic
summary of participants’ age, body mass index, educa-
tion and ethnicity by country of residence. Demographic
information was not available for women who did not
report their country of residence as these questions were
grouped together at the very end of the questionnaire.
Procedure
On authors’ request, community organizations and
workplaces with large female populations (e.g., univer-
sities, YWCA) distributed a standardized email inviting
women to complete a brief online questionnaire titled
“Women’s Conversations and Opinions about Them-
selves”. Similarly worded invitations also were posted on
internet forums (e.g., Mumsnet, BubHub) and social
networking websites (e.g ., Facebook) and emailed to
authors’ contacts. All emails and posts requested that
women forward the study invitation to their own social
networks.
The recruitment email described the study purpose as
exploring topics that women frequently discuss with
other women and how this relates to their health and
well-being. After providing consent, participants
completed measures online in the order that they are
described below. Upon completion, participants could
enter a prize draw to win a £50/$80 Amazon gift vou-
cher. Ethical approval to conduct the study was granted
by the internal review boards at the authors’ respective
institutions.
Measures
Demographic information
Participants reported their age, height, weight, country
of residence, highest level of education achieved and eth-
nicity. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated by divid-
ing self-reported weight (kilograms) by height
2
(meters).
Although gathering participant’s height and weight data
via self-report is not optimal, as this was a survey study
we were unable to assess these constructs more object-
ively. Nonetheless, research has shown that self-report
weights are reasonably accurate [30].
Fat talk
To assess the fat talk content, participants completed an
imagined convers ation script between themselves and a
specific friend, in accordance with Salk and Engeln-
Maddox [24]. The conversation began with a friend
saying “Ugh, I feel so fat”. The participant then recorded
her initial response to her friend in an open-ended re-
sponse box, followed by a response from her friend and
a final response from the participant.
To measure frequency of fat talk, participants received
the following definition which included 9 fat talk
examples (e.g., “she would be prettier if she lost weight,”
“do I look fat in this?”): “The term “fat talk” is used to
describe any speech that implicitly or explicitly reinforces
or endorses the thin-ideal standard of female beauty that
Table 1 Participant demographics
USA UK Australia Elsewhere
(n = 367) (n = 224) (n = 168) (n = 22)
MSDMSDMSDMSD
Age 39.41 14.37 32.28 11.75 37.42 12.21 34.82 12.67
Body Mass Index 24.09 4.68 24.69 6.31 25.48 5.63 23.80 4.01
n%n%n%n%
Education
a
Some high school 2 0.5 0 0 5 2.60 0 0
High school 27 7.4 48 21.52 20 11.90 6 30.0
Diploma/ Associate’s Degree 20 5.4 23 10.31 35 21.21 0 0
Undergraduate 142 38.8 95 42.60 70 41.67 7 35.0
Postgraduate 175 47.9 57 25.57 38 22.62 7 35.0
Ethnicity
b
White 312 85.7 210 93.8 153 91.1 18 81.1
Other 52 14.3 14 6.2 15 8.9 4 18.1
a. Education indicates highest level of education completed. Frequencies (%) calculated with available data on a within country basis.
b. Because we had an international sample and the vast majority of participants identified as White, for brevity we collapsed all other ethnic groups into ‘Other’.
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is promoted in western culture. Fat talk can appear to be
either critical (e.g., “She’s too fat to wear that skirt”)or
seemingly complimentary (e.g., “I wish I was as thin as
you”).” Consistent with Salk and Engeln-Maddox’s meth-
odology [24], participants next responded to three items
on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never or it’s extremely rare;
5=it’s extremely common) to indicate how often they
personally engage in fat talk, how often their female
friends and family engage in fat talk, and how often they
see or hear fat talk in the media.
We also administered a slightly modified version of
the Fat Talk Scale [26]. This scale includes 9 scenarios in
which a woman is talking to a female friend and fat talk
arises (e.g., “Anna and her friends are taking a workout
class together. While cha nging into their workout clothes,
one of Anna’s friends clutches her stomach and says she
looks so fat. Her other friend says she hate s her thighs.
Anna respond s with something she hates about her own
body.”). Participants indicated on a 5-point Likert scale
(1 = never; 5 = always) the extent to which they would
respond in the way Anna responded. We modified
scenarios that appeared exclusively aimed at younger
women (e.g., one that included walking to class) to be
more age neutral. Reliability for the Fat Talk Scale in this
study was good (Cronbach’s α = .92); previous research
supports its test re-test reliability and validity [26].
Old Talk
To assess the old talk content, participants completed
another imagined conversation script between them-
selves and a specific friend who begin s by saying “Ugh,
look at these wrinkles. I can’t believe how old I look”. The
response forma t was consistent with the fat talk conver-
sation task described above.
To measure frequency of old talk, participants
received the following definition of old talk along with 9
old talk examples: “The term “old talk” is used to de-
scribe any speech that impl icitly or explicitly reinforces
or endorses the young (and still thin) -ideal standard of
female beauty that is promoted in western culture. Old
talk can appe ar to be either critical (e.g., “She’s looking
really old.”) or seemingly complimentary (e.g., “You so
don’t look your age! Tell me your secret.”).” Participan ts
separately rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never or
it’s extremely rare; 5 = it’s extremely common) how often
they personally engage in old talk, how often their fe-
male friends and family engage in old talk, and how
often they see or hear old talk in the media.
Based upon the Fat Talk Scale [26], we created an Old
Talk Scale for this study. This scale included 9 scenarios
in which a woman named Anna is talking to fem ale
friends and old talk arises (see Appendix A for Old Talk
Scale). Scenarios were based on conversations observed
by the authors or pilates instructor mentioned above.
Participants indicated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 =
never; 5 = always) the extent to which they would re-
spond as Anna did in each scenario. Higher scores indi-
cate a greater tendency to engage in old talk. Reliability
for the Old Talk Scale was good (Cronbach’s α = .88).
Thin-ideal Internalization
To a ssess thin-ideal internalization, the internalization-
general (9 items; e.g., “I compare my body to the bodies
of people who a re on TV”; 1 = definitely disagree, 5 =
definitely agree) and internalization-athlete (5 items;
e.g., “I compare my body to that of people in "good shape”;
1 = definitely disagree, 5 = definitely agree) subscales
of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance
Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) [31] were administered.
Higher scores indicate greater internalization of cul-
tural beauty ideals. The SATAQ-3 is widely used and
has good convergent validity [31]. Reliability for the
subscales was good (Cronbach’s α =.93; .84).
Body areas satisfaction
The Body Areas Satisfaction subscale of the Multidimen-
sional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) [32]
assessed women’s satisfaction with discrete body parts.
Participants rated their satisfaction with 9 aspects of
appearance (e.g., face, mid torso, weight) on a 5-point
Likert scale (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied). Sig-
nificant data supports the reliability and validity of the
MBSRQ [32]. High er scores indicate greater body satis-
faction. Reliability was good in this sample (Cronbach’s
α = .85)
Self-objectification
The Self-Objectification Questionnaire [33] assessed the
extent to which women focus on appearance-based
aspects of their bodies in comparison to competence-
based aspects. Participants ranked body attributes in
order of perceived importance to physical self-concept
(1 = most important, 9 = least important). Scores were
calculated by computing a difference score between the
sum of the ranks for appearance-based items (e.g., phys-
ical attractiveness, weight) and those for competence-
based items (e.g., fitness, health), with higher scores
indicate greater levels of self-objectification. Previous
research has demonstrated that this scale has acceptable
construct validity [33].
Ageing appearance anxiety
The Physical Appearance subscale of the Anxiety about
Aging Scale [34] assessed concern about the effects of
ageing on appearance (5 items; e.g., “When I look in the
mirror, it bothers me to see how my looks have changed
with age; 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). In our
review of the aging literature, we found this to be the
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most widely used scale. Lasher and Faulkender [34]
found good internal consistency for this measure, which
has high face validity. Higher scores indicate greater age-
ing anxiety and the scale had good reliability in this
study (Cronbach’s α = .77).
Drive for thinness
The Drive for Thinness subscale from the well validated
Eating Disorder Inventory-2 [35,36] assessed participants’
preoccupation with weight and dieting (7 items; e.g., “I
think about dieting”; 1 = never, 6 = always). Higher scores
indicate greater drive for thinness. The scale had good re-
liability in this sample (Cronbach’s α =.83).
Eating disorder pathology
Diagnostic items from the Eating Disorders Examination-
Questionnaire [37] assessed ED pathology (12 items; e.g.,
“Over the past 28 days, how many times have you made
yourself sick (vomit) as a means of controlling your shape
or weight?”). Higher scores indicate greater eating path-
ology. Research supports the two week test-retest reliabil-
ity, internal consistency, and temporal stability of the
EDE-Q [38,39]. The scale had good reliability (Cronbach’s
α =.79).
Results
Because our sample was substantially more geographic-
ally diverse than other studies in this area, we examined
if there were any differences between the main countries
in our study prior to treating the sample as a unified
group. For this analysis, we removed participants who
resided in a country other than the USA, UK or Austra-
lia (n = 22), as well as participants who did not report
country of residence (n = 133). Preliminary analyses
indicated that countries differed with respect to age and
BMI, thus we co-varied these variables in the between-
country analyses. Results indicated that participants
from all countries were equally likely to engage in fat
talk, F (2, 756) = 2.30, p = .831, η
p
2
= .006. We similarly
found no significant differences in reported old talk
engagement and participant’s country of residence,
F(2, 730) = 2.50, p = .084, η
p
2
= .007.
Fat talk content
Responses to the fat talk conversation were coded and
analyzed thematically by the third and fourth author in
accordance with the procedure outlined by Salk and
Engeln-Maddox [24]. To determine if the seven themes
observed by Salk and Engeln-Maddox [24]. (denial, em-
pathy, probing, evidence, causes , action together, I’m fat
you’re not) captured the content of our data, we
attempted to code conversations from the first 70
participants into these themes. Overall, the themes fit
the data well (i.e., most responses were easily coded into
the original seven themes), although three new themes
were identified; healthy ideal, disengagement and dis-
count. Table 2 provides a summary of the analysis of fat
talk conversations.
The coders next analyzed all data by first coding
participants’ initial responses into one of three dominant
themes (denial, probing, empathy). The most common
initial response to a friend engaging in fat talk was
denial (63.9%), followed by probing (13.1%) and empathy
(12.65%). A minority of initial responses (10.35%) did
not fit into these themes. Inter-rater reliability (IRR)
for the coding of in itial responses w as goo d (Cohen’s
kappa =.81).
Secondly, the entire conversation for each participant
was coded into the full set of 10 themes, with each con-
versation being coded into as many relevant themes as
needed to adequately describe the data. The most com-
mon response types across the entire conversation were
denial (64.75%), evidence (50.5%), discount (28.7%), ac-
tion (26.7%) and empathy (23.1 5%). IRR was acceptable
for all themes (Cohen’s kappa ≥ .70).
Frequency of fat talk
As hypothesized, an overwhelming majority (81%) of
the total sample reported engaging in at least occasional
fat talk. Among the 881 who responded to this item,
33% reported frequently engaging in fat talk (score 4 or
5; see Table 3). The mean rating of fat talk was 2.86
(SD = 1.23).
Because our sample included a much more diverse
range of ages and weights than most previous studies of
fat talk, we examined if these factors were associated
with differences in fat talk. We divided participants into
four main age groups (18–29 years, n = 292; 30–45 years,
n =293; 46–60 years, n = 141; and 61 and older, n = 55)
and excluded those who did not report age (n = 133).
Groups were created with the following concerns in
mind: not wanting to create too many groups, having
ages that roughly held together in terms of life stages,
and not creating groups with very small samples. We
also consulted a life span developmental psychologist
for advice in creating the groups a s well as the life-
span literature [40]. Preliminary analyses indicated that
BMI differed for the different age groups. Thus we
co-varied BMI.
In contrast to our hypothesis, we found a significant
difference in frequency of engaging in fat talk ba sed on
age, F (3, 753) = 3.98, p = .008, η
p
2
= .016. Mean ratings
indicated that engagement in fat talk slowly decreased as
participant age increased (see Table 3), although rates of
at least occasional fat talk remained stable across age
group (82-86%). As can be seen in Table 3 fat talk did
not noticeably change until women reached the oldest
age bracket (> 61 years), and post-hoc analyses indicated
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Table 2 Fat talk content thematic analysis summary
Theme Definition Example responses Initial
responses %
Entire
conversation %
Kappa
Denial Participant denies that friend is fat “You’re not fat at all.” 63.9 64.75 .85
Empathy Participant indicates that she or others
can relate to feeling fat and being upset
“Ah I know how you feel.”“I can totally understand
the feeling.”
12.65 23.15 .78
Probing Participant questions friend as to why
she feels fat
“What makes you feel like this?”“Why what’s wrong?” 13.10 15.75 .84
Evidence Friend provides evidence to support the
statement that she is actually fat
“Yes I am. Look at this (then grabs her love handles).” - 50.5 .70
Causes Participant discusses or inquires about
the causes contributing to friend’s belief
“You need to stop watching these dumb rom coms.”
“Have you not been exercising lately? Or is it PMS?”
- 11.0 .82
Action Participant suggests or prompts plan of
action
“Well have you tried eating better?” - 26.7 .84
I’m fat,
you’re not
Participant disagrees by commenting on
her own fatness
“I don’t think you are fat, but I am.” - 6.75 .75
Healthy
Ideal
Participant actively promotes health
instead of appearance
“The important thing is that you feel healthy and
happy.”
- 4.5 .77
Discount Participant or friend rejects the other’s
denial that they are not fat
“Whatever, you’re only saying that because you have
to.”
- 28.7 .89
Disengage Participant actively dismisses and
attempts to stop the fat talk
“Don’t say that!” - 13.0 .90
Note: Cohen’s kappa coefficients reported here were calculated for the analysis in which the coders analyzed the entire conversation. Kappa for initial response
coding was .81.
Table 3 Frequencies and means for fat talk and old talk
None/Rare Occasionally Sometimes Quite Extremely M (SD)
often common
%%%%%
Self Fat Talk
Total Sample 16 26 25 22 11 2.86 (1.24)
18–29 Years 15 23 24 23 15 2.99 (1.30)
a
30–45 Years 15 28 24 24 10 2.86 (1.21)
ab
46–60 Years 18 28 21 21 11 2.79 (1.29)
ab
61+ Years 16 35 35 12 2 2.49 (0.98)
b
Underweight 19 24 21 14 21 2.98 (1.44)
ab
Normal Weight 16 30 24 21 9 2.77 (1.21)
a
Overweight 9 25 27 24 15 3.12 (1.21)
b
Obese 21 18 24 25 11 2.88 (1.25)
ab
F&F Fat Talk 5 20 27 37 12 3.33 (1.06)
Media Fat Talk 1 5 12 38 45 4.21 (0.89)
Old Talk
Total Sample 34 30 22 12 3 2.21 (1.12)
18–29 Years 52 29 15 3 1 1.17 (0.89)
a
30–45 Years 27 29 24 24 4 2.40 (1.16)
b
46–60 Years 14 31 30 17 7 2.71 (1.11)
c
61+ Years 9 33 33 26 0 2.72 (0.94)
c
F&F Old Talk 16 35 28 17 4 2.57 (1.07)
Media Old Talk 3 14 24 39 20 3.59 (1.06)
Note: Subgroupings with different superscripts differ significantly from one another at p < .05. Subgroupings with the same superscripts did not differ significantly
from one anothe r. F&F Fat Talk, Friends and Family Fat Talk. F&F Old Talk, Friends and Family Old Talk.
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that only the youngest and oldest age groups signifi-
cantly differed. Thus our hypothesis that fat talk would
remain largely unchanged across age groups was mostly,
but not fully, supported.
To analyze differences by weight, we used traditional
BMI cut-off points to split our sample into underweight
(BMI <18.5, n = 42), normal weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9, n
= 452), overweight (BMI = 25–29.9, n = 158) and obese
categories (30+, n = 115). See Table 3 for frequencies and
means. Prelimi nary analyses indicated that BMI groups
differed with respect to age, which we co-varied. Results
indicated that BMI groups differed significantly in self-
fat talk frequency, F (3, 753) = 4.02, p = .007, η
p
2
= .016.
Mean ratings indicated that the overwe ight group
engaged in the most fat talk whereas the normal weight
group engaged in the least. Post-hoc analyses indicated
that only these two groups differed significantly, and an
overwhelming majority of all groups reported at lea st oc-
casional fat talk (79% - 91%). Thus our hyp othesis that
fat talk would occur equally across women of all weights
was largely, but not fully, supported.
Given the missing age data for 133 participants, the
fact that most sub-groups did not differ from one an-
other in age and BM I analyses, and our desire to avoid
over-analyzing our data, we examined reported fre-
quency that female friends and family engage in fat talk
(F&F FT) and media fat talk for the total sample only.
For F&F FT, 96% of participants responding to this
question (n = 878) reported at least occasional fat talk.
As hypothesized, we found a third person effect, with
mean F&F FT frequency being greater compared to self,
t (877) = 11.81, p < .001. For media fat talk, 99% of
participants reported exposure to at least occasional
media fat talk. Consistent with our third person effect
hypothesis, mean fat talk significantly rose from self to
media, t (878) = 28.36, p < .001.
Old talk content
Responses to old talk conversation were coded and
analyzed thematically in accordance with the procedure
described above for fat talk. To determine if the ten
themes observed in the fat talk conversations (denial,
empathy, probing, evidence, causes, action, I’m old you’re
not, healthy ideal, discount and disengage) captured the
content of the old talk conversations, we attempted to
code the old talk conversations from the first 70
participants into these themes. Overall, the themes fit the
data well (i.e., most responses were easily coded into the
10 fat talk themes); probing and healthy ideal, however,
occurred in a minority of cases (< 2.15%) and were there-
fore removed. Additionally, one new theme was identified;
ageing is natural and positive. Table 4 provides a summary
of the analysis of old talk conversations.
The coders then analyzed the full dataset by first cod-
ing participants’ initial responses into one of three dom-
inant themes (denial, empathy, ageing is natural and
positive). The most common initial response to a friend
engaging in old talk was denial (60.65% ), followed by
ageing is natural and positive (18.15%) and empathy
(13.45%). A minority of initial responses (7.75%) did not
fit into these themes. IRR for initial response coding was
good (kappa = .83).
The entire conversation for each participant was then
coded into the full set of nine themes. The most com-
mon response types across the entire conversation were
denial (51.5%), evidence (35.35%), ageing is natural and
positive (28.7%), discount (23.75%) and action (15.2%).
IRR was acceptable for all themes coded across entire
conversations (Cohen’s kappa ≥ .71).
Frequency of old talk
We repeated the major fat talk analyses for old talk fre-
quency, with the exception of the BMI analyses because
that was not part of our original set of hypotheses or re-
search design. Of the 830 participants who responded to
the self-old talk question, as hypothesized, the majority
of women (66%) reported engaging in old talk (see
Table 3). Although this is lower than that for fat talk
(also consistent with our hypotheses), it still represents
the majority of participants. In the total sample, the rate
of frequent old talk (score 4 or 5) was lower (15%) than
the rate of frequent FT (33%). The mean rating for self-
old talk was 2.21 (SD = 1.12).
As hypothesized, the ANCOVA for age, F (3, 753) =
46.33, p < .001, η
p
2
= .015, was highly significant. Fre-
quency of old talk steadily increased as participant age
increased. Additionally, the oldest two age groups
reported engaging in old talk at a similar or greater fre-
quency than fat talk (see Table 3). Post-hoc tests
indicated that the youngest group differed significantly
from each of the three older age groups (in ascending
order: t (583) = −8.04, p < .001; t (431) = −10.05, p < .001;
t (345) = −7.81, p < .001), and that the second youngest
age group differed from the two oldest age groups (in
ascending order, t (432) = −2.62, p = .009; t (346) = −2.03,
p = .04). In summary, our hypothesis that frequency of
old talk increases with age was supported. Surprisingly,
however, almost 50% of the youngest age group also
reported engaging in at least occasional old talk.
With regards to friends and family old talk (F&F OT),
an overwhelming majority (84%) of participants reported
at least occasional F&F OT, and we found a significant
third person effect, t (826) = −10.88, p < .001. As with fat
talk, we see a pronou nced rise in frequency in response
to the media old talk question. Ninety-seven percent of
participants reported exposure to at least occasional
media old talk, and 59% frequent. Media old talk differ ed
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significantly as compared to self-old talk, t (829) =
−29.56, p < .001.
Relationships between fat talk, old talk, body image and
ED pathology
The mean fat talk and old talk scale scores were 21.61 (SD
= 8.13) and 15.8 (SD = 6.28) respectively. As hypothesized,
scores on the fat talk and old talk scales were significantly,
but not perfectly, correlated, r = .54, n = 776, p < .001 (two
tailed: see Table 5). This suggests that fat talk and old talk
are related, but distinct phenomena. Also as hypothesized,
the fat talk scale was significantly correlated with thin-ideal
internalization (both general and athlete), body areas satis-
faction (negative correlation), self objectification, physical
appearance aging anxiety, drive for thinness and ED path-
ology (r’s range from .23-.67; all p < .001; see Table 5). The
same was found for the old talk scale (r’s range from .23-
.47; all p < .001; see Table 5). Consistent with our hypoth-
esis, correlations for the fat talk scale were larger than
those found for the old talk scale, with the exception of the
appearance ageing anxiety.
Based on the finding that old talk frequency was most
common in the two oldest age groups, we also examined
correlations in this subsample (see Table 5). As with the
Table 4 Old talk content thematic analysis summary
Theme Definition Example responses Initial
responses
%
Entire
conversation
%
Kappa
Denial Participant denies that friend is old “You don’t look old at all!” 60.65 51.5 .84
Empathy Participant indicates that she and others can relate to
feeling old and concerned about ageing appearance
“I know, I feel the same, it just catches
up with you when you aren’t looking
and it’s only going to get worse.”
13.45 14.75 .75
Ageing is
natural and
positive
Participant implies that ageing is natural, positive and/
or inevitable
“Aging is natural and beautiful.... I wish I
had wrinkles, they make you look wise.
18.15 28.7 .75
Evidence Friend provides evidence to support the statement
that she is actually old
“I disagree, LOOK at them.” - 35.35 .74
Causes Participant discusses or inquires about the causes
contributing to friend’s belief that she is old and
showing visible signs of ageing
“It’s from smiling and laughing too
much”
- 4.35 .92
Action Participant suggests or prompts plan of action to
address feelings
“If you’re so worried, get some decent
anti-wrinkle cream, nothing to lose!”
- 15.2 .80
I’m old,
you’re not
Participant disagrees by commenting on her own signs
of ageing
“That is so not bad. Look at my wrinkles” - 8.9 .84
Discount Participant or friend rejects the other’s denial that they
are not old
“Yes I do, look at these!” - 23.75 .71
Disengage Participant actively dismisses and tries to stop the old
talk
“Girl, don’t even go there. You are
gorgeous.”
- 5.85 .90
Note: Cohen’s kappa coefficients reported here were calculated for the analysis in which the coders analyzed the entire conversation. Kappa for initial response
coding was .83.
Table 5 Correlations between fat talk & old talk scales and measures of body image and eating disorder pathology
Total sample Ages 46+
Fat talk scale Old talk scale Fat talk scale Old talk scale
Old Talk Scale .535* .719*
SATAQ-3 General Intern .497* .331* .452* .459*
SATAQ-3 Athlete Intern .316* .271* .312* .346*
Body Areas Satisfaction
a
-.528* -.385* -.522* -.402*
Self Objectification .441* .232* .430* .340*
Appearance Ageing Anxiety .230* .474* .312* .461*
EDI Drive for Thinness .668* .387* .629* .513*
EDE-Q ED Pathology .540* .385* .612* .603*
a Body Areas Satisfaction: Higher scores are better. * p < .001.
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total sample, all correlations were highly significant
(p < .001). Interestingly, the fat talk and old talk scales
became more correlated in this subgroup. Further, in
contrast to the total sample, old talk correlations were
mostly equivalent to, or greater than, those found for fat
talk for thin-ideal internalization (general and athlete) and
ED pathology. Finally, with the exception of appearance
ageing anxiety, all correlations increased for the old talk
scale in this subsample relative to the general sample.
Discussion
Research indicates that body dissatisfaction is associated
with a range of physical and mental health problems. As
such, identifying factors that are associated with and
may play a role in causing, sustaining, or deepening
body dissatisfaction is an important public health issue.
Even more critical is the identification of factor s that are
modifiable and therefore potentially important targets
for body image interventions. Previous research
implicates fat talk as a factor that not only is associated
with body dissatisfaction and ED pathology, but also
increases body dissatisfaction when experimentally
manipulated. This study contributes to the existing lit-
erature by exploring fat talk among women from three
countries across the lifespan. Our findings also suggest
that researchers need to broaden their study of body
image talk to include old talk, particularly when studying
midlife and older adult women.
In contrast to existing literature that has typically fo-
cused on fat talk as a behavior of adolescents and young
women, we found that women of all ages reported en-
gaging in at least some fa t talk, with rates of occasional
fat talk remaining at a constant 82-85% across our four
age groups. Although frequency of fat talk did gradually
decrease in the older age groups, the reduction was non-
significant except when the youngest and oldest groups
were compared. These results suggest that fat talk re-
search needs to include, at minimum, women through
the full midlife stage. Moreover, because no body image
study has yet followed midlife and older women over a
significant period of time, it remains unclear to wha t de-
gree current findings represent cohort effects. More spe-
cifically, it may be that lower rates of fat talk in the very
oldest age group represent a generation difference and
that women who are currently in their 20s will sustain
their current levels of fat talk as they age.
Results for old talk across the ages showed a different
pattern than those for fat talk. First, as hypothesized,
overall rates of old talk were lower than that for fat talk,
with 66% of women reporting at least occasional old
talk. Second, whereas rates of fat talk slowly decreased
as women aged, rates of old talk increased over the life-
span. The different trajectories of fat talk and old talk
across the lifespan provide support for the notion that
fat talk and old talk are distin ct constructs. They also
suggest that when women are young, the most salient
feature of the thin-young-ideal is thinness. In contrast,
when women are in mid-life both thinness and youth
appear to be of concern. Finally, when women enter
older adulthood youth appears to become more salient
than thinness. Having said this, fat talk was still common
among the eldest sub-group, and almost 50% of the
youngest age group reported periodic old talk. This
suggests that in all ages we should examine effects of the
thin-young-ideal, and not just focus on the thin aspect
of ideal female beauty.
In contrast to our hypothesis that there would be no
differences in fat talk based on body weight, we found a
significant difference based on BMI. Although women
across all weight categories reported high levels of at
least occasional FT (79-91%), frequency of fat talk was
highest in our overweight group, which differed signifi-
cantly from the normal weight group. This contrasts to
research with younger women and adolescent girls.
Nichter [22] described fat talk as something that almost
exclusively occurs among underweight and normal
weight adolescent girls. Our findings are, however, con-
sistent with the only other study to examine adult
women. Martz et al. [29] found that obese participants
reported the greatest pressure to engage in fat talk.
As hypothesized, we found a third person effect [41]
for the perceived extent to which both friends and family
and the media engage in both fat talk and old talk. This
means that women are likely to report that other people
engage in significantly more fat talk and old talk then
they themselves do. Rates for media fat talk and media
old talk were both extremely high. In contrast to exten-
sive research examining effects of idealized media
images on body image and health, there is little research
that has examined media fat talk and none for media old
talk. Given findings of Stice and colleagues [27], in
which exposure to a low dose of fat talk by a confederate
produced significant worsening of body satisfaction, we
suggest that research is needed to determine effects, if
any, of media fat talk and media old talk.
As expected, fat talk and old talk scales were signifi-
cantly correlated with each other, albeit not perfectly.
Again, this suggests that the scales tapped into related
but different constructs. Both scales also were signifi-
cantly correlated with all body image and ED pathology
measures included in this study. Women who reported
greater levels of fat talk and old talk were also more
likely to report higher levels of thin-ideal internalization,
self-objectification, appea rance ageing anxiety, drive for
thinness and ED pathology as well as decreased body
satisfaction. As hypothesized, fat talk was more strongly
related to all body image and ED measures, with the ex-
ception of the ageing appearance anxiety, which was
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more highly correlated with the old talk scale . When we
examined the same correlations among women 46 years
and older, who reported engaging in the most old talk,
we found that almost every correlation for old talk
increased. This suggests that old talk is more strongly
linked to body image and ED disturbance when it is
examined in the population for which it is most salient.
This study has several limitations. First, we used con-
venience, snowball sampling versus probability samplings.
Second, a majority of the women were under 45 years of
age. Third, our reliance on internet sampling means the
study could have selection bias particularly with respect to
socio-economic status (SES) as internet access may be a
proxy for SES. Fourth, we relied on self-report. Although
this methodology is common in fat talk studies, future re-
search should include other methodologies.
Conclusion
This study prov ides a significant contribution regarding
body image talk among women, and suggests that, due
to its prevalence and association with body image and
ED pathology, old talk should be addressed in future
body image research, particularly among women in mid-
older life. Additionally, results suggest that body image
programs targeting mid-life and older women may bene-
fit from addressing a) the thin and young aspects of
idealized female beauty and b) the role of old talk and
fat talk in perpetuating unhelpful beauty ideals and
appearance-related distress. Finally, results suggest that
calls for greater body size diversity in media imagery to
promote positive body image (e.g., Australian Govern-
ment [42]) should also be accompanied by calls to re-
duce discourse that stigmatizes and reinforces unhelpful
beauty ideals in relation to age.
Appendix A
Old talk scale
Below are some scenarios in which women express and
respond to aging concerns. Please read each scenario
and then answer the corresponding question* by circling
Never (=1), seldom , sometimes, often, or always (=5).
(*The corresponding question for each item is “Please
indicate the extent to which you would respond the way
Anna did in this situation.”).
1. Anna is having a bad day. She does not feel herself
and is somewhat down. While walking to a meeting,
a female co-worker says that she looks nice today.
Anna groa ns and says “You obviously aren’t looking
at my face – I think I developed new wrinkles
overnight. I look so old and tired.”
2. Anna and her friends are taking a workout class
together. While changing into their workout clothes,
one of Anna’sfriendslooksinthemirrorandsays“I
really need to start Botox.” Her other friend says she is
thinking about getting her teeth whitened and
dermabrasion to even out her skin tone. Anna responds
with something she hates about her own body.
3. Anna is eating lunch with her friends and decides to
have dessert. As she finishes her dessert, she makes a
comment like “I can’t believe I did that. My belly is
so huge compared to when I was younger. I hate it
but I can’t seem to fix it.”
4. Anna and her friend are walking to their car after
watching a movie. Anna comments that the lead
actress looks amazing for her age and says “IwishI
could look even half that good these days. I wonder
what she does to look that good. I hate getting older.”
5. Anna is shopping with her friend Emily. Anna is at
the cosmetics counter and asks Emily “what do you
use on your skin. I need something that will make
me look younger. I keep trying different things but
nothing works.” Emily suggests checking out a recent
fashion magazine review of anti-aging products.
6. Anna is hanging out with a friend when she looks in
the mirror and says “I don’t think I can wear a
swimsuit this year. I have developed a middle aged
body and I just can’t seem to accept it.”
7. Anna is talking with a friend about dating. Anna says
“I might as well give up. No one wants to go out
with someone as old as me.” Anna’s friend responds
she is thinking of getting plastic surgery because “a
facelift will hurt less than seeing John start looking at
younger girls.”
8. Anna is taking a workout class with a friend when a
substitute teacher enters the room. Anna’s friend
states –“That can’t be our teacher – she’s too old to
be teaching a class like this.
”
9. Anna’s friend Emily really feels as though she looks
older than she likes. Emily turns to Anna and says
“This is a secret, but I am really thinking about
getting a face and neck lift. I think it’s the only way I
am going to feel better about myself.” Anna says “I
know what you mean. I don’t feel old. I just wish I
looked as young as I feel.”
How old did you think Anna was as you completed this
scale?
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests to report.
Author contributions
CBB created idea for study, collaborated in the study design, analyzed
quantitative data, wrote a majority of the first draft, and edited the
manuscript. PD collaborated in the study design, created and managed the
online survey, cleaned the data, supervised GJ and CW in the coding and
analysis of the qualitative data, contributed to the writing of the first draft,
and edited the manuscript. GJ collaborated in the study design, coded and
analyzed the qualitative data, contributed to the writing of the first draft and
edited the manuscript. CW coded and analyzed the qualitative data,
Becker et al. Journal of Eating Disorders 2013, 1:6 Page 11 of 12
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contributed to the writing of the first draft and edited the manuscript. All
authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Karine Berthou and the Succeed Foundation for
financial support of this study as well as assistance in promoting the study.
The authors also thank Aida Zorilla for her observations and support.
Author details
1
Department of Psychology, One Trinity Place, Trinity University, San Antonio,
TX 78212, USA.
2
Center for Appearance Research, University of the West of
England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK.
Received: 26 October 2012 Accepted: 12 January 2013
Published: 21 February 2013
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doi:10.1186/2050-2974-1-6
Cite this article as: Becker et al.: I’m not just fat, I’m old: has the study of
body image overlooked “old talk”?. Journal of Eating Disorders 2013 1:6.
Becker et al. Journal of Eating Disorders 2013, 1:6 Page 12 of 12
http://www.jeatdisord.com/content/1/1/6