The stigmatization of larger bodies is omnipresent in Western society and may be associated with fear of fat, one of the core elements of body image and eating concerns. To date, while much work has focused on sociocultural influences towards thinness, parallel work exploring sociocultural influence on fear of fat is lacking. This study therefore aimed to develop and evaluate a measure of sociocultural influences on fear of fat (SI-FAT). Study 1 included N = 235 women, mean (SD) age = 19.75 (1.35) years; a subsample of whom provided additional data two-weeks later (n = 140). Exploratory factor analyses supported a four-factor structure with 4-item media, peer, family, and partner subscales. These subscales revealed excellent internal and test-rest reliability. In addition, support for convergent validity with body dissatisfaction, fear of fat, and rigid dietary control emerged. Study 2, among N = 317 women, 19.82 (SD = 1.5) years, further supported the factor structure and provided additional evidence of convergent validity with weight-based teasing, divergent validity with anti-fat attitudes, and incremental validity in the prediction of dietary restriction above and beyond anti-fat bias. Together, findings suggest that the SI-FAT is a useful tool for assessing sociocultural influences on fear of fat.

在西方社会，对大身体的侮辱无处不在，并且可能与对脂肪的恐惧有关，脂肪是人体形象和饮食问题的核心要素之一。迄今为止，尽管许多工作集中在社会文化对瘦身的影响上，但缺乏探索对恐惧脂肪的社会文化影响的平行工作。因此，本研究旨在开发和评估一种衡量社会文化对恐惧脂肪的影响的量度（SI-FAT）。研究1包括N = 235名妇女，平均（SD）年龄= 19.75（1.35）岁；一个子样本在两周后提供了其他数据（n= 140）。探索性因素分析支持具有4个项目的媒体，同伴，家庭和伴侣分量表的四因素结构。这些分量表显示出出色的内部和测试休息可靠性。此外，出现了人们对身体不满意，对脂肪的恐惧和严格的饮食控制对收敛有效性的支持。研究2（N = 317名女性，年龄为19.82（SD = 1.5）岁）进一步支持了因子结构，并提供了其他证据，表明基于权重的戏法具有收敛效度，具有抗肥胖态度的发散效度以及预测肥胖的效度递增饮食限制超出抗肥胖偏见。总之，研究结果表明，SI-FAT是评估对肥胖恐惧的社会文化影响的有用工具。