Aimee E Pink1, Claire Williams2, Michelle Lee2, Hayley A Young2, Sophie Harrison2, Amy Eldred Davies3, Menna Price4. 1. Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP , UK; School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, Singapore. 2. Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP , UK. 3. Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP , UK; Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. 4. Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP , UK. Electronic address: m.j.price@swansea.ac.uk.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:Feeling fat reflects difficulties in processing emotions and is an important aspect of body image and eating disorders. The current study aimed to develop a novel social comparison manipulation to induce feeling fat and to explore personality traits that may increase an individual's vulnerability. METHODS: At time 1254 healthy females (24.14 years, BMI = 23.77) completed thefeeling fat subscale of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire, as well as self-report measures of alexithymia, interoceptive sensibility, physical appearance comparison and perfectionism online. RESULTS: Greater tendency to feel fat was significantly associated with difficulty identifying and describing feelings (alexithymia), poorer interoceptive sensibility, higher socially-prescribed perfectionism, and greater engagement in physical appearance comparisons. At time 2, a subset of 107 participants (22.39 years, BMI = 23.85) were randomly assigned to a condition: negative social comparison, positive social comparison, negative general, or neutral (as a control). Participants in the negative social comparison condition reported significantly greater increases in feeling fat compared to the control condition, but only when they were also high in alexithymia or socially-prescribed perfectionism. DISCUSSION: Current findings provide new insights into the potential mechanisms underpinning feeling fat and highlight how a novel social comparison manipulation can be used to induce the sensation of feeling fat.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: Feeling fat reflects difficulties in processing emotions and is an important aspect of body image and eating disorders. The current study aimed to develop a novel social comparison manipulation to induce feeling fat and to explore personality traits that may increase an individual's vulnerability. METHODS: At time 1254 healthy females (24.14 years, BMI = 23.77) completed the feeling fat subscale of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire, as well as self-report measures of alexithymia, interoceptive sensibility, physical appearance comparison and perfectionism online. RESULTS: Greater tendency to feel fat was significantly associated with difficulty identifying and describing feelings (alexithymia), poorer interoceptive sensibility, higher socially-prescribed perfectionism, and greater engagement in physical appearance comparisons. At time 2, a subset of 107 participants (22.39 years, BMI = 23.85) were randomly assigned to a condition: negative social comparison, positive social comparison, negative general, or neutral (as a control). Participants in the negative social comparison condition reported significantly greater increases in feeling fat compared to the control condition, but only when they were also high in alexithymia or socially-prescribed perfectionism. DISCUSSION: Current findings provide new insights into the potential mechanisms underpinning feeling fat and highlight how a novel social comparison manipulation can be used to induce the sensation of feeling fat.