Body talk and body dissatisfaction in Japanese university students: Longitudinal study using the Japanese Body Talk Scale

• DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101740
• Publication Date: 2024-07-10T05:58:46Z
• Authors: Nahori Ito; Akira Hasegawa; Masaki Adachi; Shin-ichi Oura; Tetsuya Yamamoto; Yuko Matsuda; Takuro Tomita
• Keywords: Intrapersonal communication; Longitudinal Study

This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Body Talk Scale (BTS), which consists of three subscales assessing negative fat talk, negative muscle talk, and positive body talk. Additionally, the study investigated whether each category of body talk was longitudinally associated with body dissatisfaction. We conducted two separate studies among university students in Japan. Separate confirmatory factor analysis conducted for women and men consistently revealed that the Japanese BTS maintained the same three-factor structure as the original scale. Results demonstrated that the Japanese BTS exhibited good construct validity and acceptable to adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The longitudinal study showed that negative fat talk among women predicted increased discrepancy between the thin ideal body image and the actual body image four weeks later. Conversely, positive body talk among women was associated with decreased body dissatisfaction and body image discrepancy. There were no such significant associations in men. The Japanese BTS can serve as a valuable tool for future research to explore the diverse effects of negative fat talk, negative muscle talk, and positive body talk, encompassing intrapersonal influences, such as body image, eating disorder symptoms, depression, and interpersonal influences.