Buffering anti-fat attitudes using contact: The roles of contact quantity, duration, favorability, and intergroup anxiety

•More and longer contact were both related to anti-fat attitudes (AFA).•Intergroup anxiety indirectly affected the link between longer contact and AFA.•Contact favorability did not moderate the indirect process.•Contact favorability moderated the relationship between longer contact and AFA. Decades...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Body image 2021-09, Vol.38, p.120-126
Main Authors: Ganesan, Asha, Carter-Sowell, Adrienne R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anti-fat attitudes
Contact hypothesis
Prejudice
Sizeism
Weight bias
Weight stigma
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Summary:•More and longer contact were both related to anti-fat attitudes (AFA).•Intergroup anxiety indirectly affected the link between longer contact and AFA.•Contact favorability did not moderate the indirect process.•Contact favorability moderated the relationship between longer contact and AFA. Decades of intergroup contact research have found that contact with outgroups reduces negative attitudes. Yet, few studies have examined the association between contact and anti-fat attitudes. Furthermore, testing different facets of contact, namely contact quantity versus contact duration, provides more precise theoretical predictions for their effectiveness in this under-tested context. This study examined whether intergroup anxiety was indirectly related to and contact favorability moderated the relationship between contact and anti-fat attitudes, tested through the constructs of contact quantity (i.e., how many individuals interacted with) and contact duration (i.e., how often time was spent). Undergraduates (N = 343; 260 women) based in the United States completed an online survey assessing intergroup contact, contact favorability, intergroup anxiety, and anti-fat attitudes. Analyses of conditional indirect effects showed that longer contact but not more contact reduced intergroup anxiety, which lowered anti-fat attitudes. The indirect paths for both contact types were not conditional upon contact favorability. Contact favorability moderated the association between contact duration and anti-fat attitudes such that longer and more favorable contact lowered anti-fat attitudes. Findings are discussed within the contact hypothesis, and future research should explore the distinct elements of the hypothesis as applicable to anti-fat prejudice in in-person and online contexts.
ISSN:1740-1445
1873-6807
DOI:10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.019