Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit

NCT02745405 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 13-001873
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 109
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

This study examined how wearing a fat suit might lead individuals to experience the negative effects of weight based stigmatization, including psychological, behavioral, and physiological consequences. It also aimed to test using the fat suit as a possible intervention tactic to reduce weight stigma.

Conditions

Feeding Behaviors

Keywords

Weight Stigma; Cortisol Reactivity; Eating Behavior

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Eating behavior measured via grams of food consumed

  M\&Ms, potato chips, and full-sugar soda consumption

  ~10-minutes post-manipulation

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Cortisol reactivity

  ~20 minutes post-manipulation

• Antifat Attitudes measured via electronic questionnaire

  ~30 minutes after post-manipulation

• Psychological Well-Being measured via electronic questionnaires

  ~15 minutes post-manipulation

Study Arms (2)

Fat Suit Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants are randomly assigned to wear a fat suit and then walk across campus.

Other: Fat Suit

Control Condition

OTHER

Participants are randomly assigned to wear the same clothing that is on the fat suit but in their own size and then walk across campus.

Other: Control Condition

Interventions

Fat Suit OTHER

Participants wear a fat suit.

Fat Suit Condition

Control Condition OTHER

Participants wear same clothing as intervention, but in their own size.

Control Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Participants had to be registered in the UCLA Department of Psychology Subject Pool.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• A. Janet Tomiyama: lead

Related Publications (4)

• Crandall CS. Prejudice against fat people: ideology and self-interest. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 May;66(5):882-94. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.66.5.882.

  PMID: 8014833 BACKGROUND

• Baker F, Denniston M, Zabora J, Polland A, Dudley WN. A POMS short form for cancer patients: psychometric and structural evaluation. Psychooncology. 2002 Jul-Aug;11(4):273-81. doi: 10.1002/pon.564.

  PMID: 12203741 BACKGROUND

• Zadro L, Williams KD, Richardson R. How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer is sufficient to lower self-reported levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(4): 560-567, 2004.

  BACKGROUND

• Incollingo Rodriguez AC, Heldreth CM, Tomiyama AJ. Putting on weight stigma: A randomized study of the effects of wearing a fat suit on eating, well-being, and cortisol. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016 Sep;24(9):1892-8. doi: 10.1002/oby.21575. Epub 2016 Jul 28.

  PMID: 27465666 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior; Weight Prejudice

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior; Prejudice; Social Behavior

Study Officials

• A. Janet Tomiyama, Ph.D

  University of California, Los Angeles

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Faculty Sponsor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 11, 2016
• First Posted: April 20, 2016
• Study Start: April 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2014
• Study Completion: December 1, 2014
• Last Updated: April 20, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-04