Changes in weight talk and links with body satisfaction across adolescence and young adulthood

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the developmental trajectories of weight talk (i.e., encouragement to diet) from parents and romantic partners and the developmental timing of weight talk as a risk factor for body satisfaction across adolescence and young adulthood. Participants were 994 individuals (53.1 % female; 34.9 % White, 27.2 % Black, 20.9 % Asian, 11.7 % multiracial) enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study in the U.S. (T1 M age = 14.4 years; T3 M age = 27.6 years). Multilevel tobit regression was used to examine trajectories of weight talk across development. Time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) was used to chart changes in the association between weight talk and body satisfaction as a function of age. Tobit results indicated negative, linear growth curves for weight talk from mothers (γ = -0.06, p < .001), fathers (γ = -0.10, p < .001), and romantic partners (γ = -0.11, p < .001). TVEM results indicated that the associations between weight talk and body satisfaction were negative and significant for mothers between ages 12.0-30.0 years, fathers between ages 14.7-23.1 years, and romantic partners between ages 19.7-25.2, and 27.6-30.0 years. Findings indicate that weight talk from parents and romantic partners decreases across adolescence and young adulthood; yet the impact of weight talk on body satisfaction does not necessarily decrease. Parent and romantic partner weight talk vary in their relevance to body satisfaction across adolescence and young adulthood. Findings have implications for theory and prevention of body image concerns.