Body talk and body-related co-rumination: Associations with body image, eating attitudes, and psychological adjustment

• We examined associations of body talk to body image, disordered eating, adjustment, and friendship.
• Negative body talk was related to poorer body image, disordered eating and maladjustment.
• Negative body talk was not related to friendship quality.
• Positive body talk was related to body satisfaction, self-esteem and friendship quality.
• Body-related co-rumination was related to body image pathology but also to friendship quality.

Talk about physical appearance and body image is common among young women. We investigated how body talk (negative, positive/self-accepting, and co-ruminative) is related to body image, body-related cognitive distortions, disordered eating, psychological adjustment, and friendship quality via hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for social desirability and body mass index). In a sample of young adult women (N = 203), negative body talk was, as predicted, negatively related to body satisfaction and self-esteem and positively related to appearance investment, body-related cognitive distortions, disordered eating, and depression, but not friendship quality. Self-accepting/positive body talk was negatively related to body-related cognitive distortions and positively related to body satisfaction, self-esteem, and friendship quality. Body-related co-rumination demonstrated adjustment trade-offs, being related to body-related cognitive distortions, disordered eating, and higher friendship quality. Results indicated no advantage to negative body talk, both individual and relationship benefits from positive/self-accepting body talk, and mixed outcomes for body-related co-rumination