Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit

Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit for Eating, Physiological Stress, and Psychological Well-Being

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Feeding Behaviors
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Fat Suit; Other: Control Condition

Detailed Description

The goal of this study was to understand how embodying a stigmatized domain might elicit the same consequences investigators see in victims of weight stigma. Participants were randomly assigned to either manipulate their weight through wearing a fat suit prosthesis or to a control condition where they wore the same clothing that was on the fat suit but in their own size. Outcome variables were cortisol reactivity, psychological well-being, and food and drink consumption. Additionally, this study tested whether wearing the fat suit might serve as an effective weight stigma reduction effort.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 109
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

• No specific exclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Fat Suit Condition; Participants are randomly assigned to wear a fat suit and then walk across campus.	Other: Fat Suit; Participants wear a fat suit.
Other: Control Condition; 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; Participants wear same clothing as intervention, but in their own size.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Eating behavior measured via grams of food consumed	M&Ms, potato chips, and full-sugar soda consumption	~10-minutes post-manipulation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: A. Janet Tomiyama
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: A. Janet Tomiyama, Ph.D, University of California, Los Angeles

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 11, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): April 20, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): April 20, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2016
• Last Verified: April 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Eating Behavior; Weight Stigma; Cortisol Reactivity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 13-001873

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided
• IPD Plan Description: Interested individuals should contact the PI, who will consult with the UCLA IRB regarding the request.