Daughters' Body Dissatisfaction Partially Mediates the Relationship between Mother-Daughter Fat Talk and Daughters' Dieting
thesis
posted on 2011-11-18, 00:00authored byJamie Lee Serrano
Disordered eating is one of the most common and problematic psychiatric issues among girls and young women. There are multiple variables related to negative body- and eating-related attitudes and behaviors in adolescent girls, including maternal weight-related comments, body dissatisfaction, and dieting behaviors. Examining a specific type of weight-related talk called 'fat talk,' this study investigated whether daughters' body dissatisfaction mediated the relation between mother-daughter fat talk and daughters' dieting behaviors. The design of the study was cross-sectional. Participants were 89 college-aged women and their mothers who separately completed a set of questionnaires. Results indicated that daughters' body dissatisfaction partially mediated the relation between both mother-reported and daughter-reported mother-daughter fat talk and daughters' dieting behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research, theory, and practice.