01-04-2006 | Original Article | Uitgave 2/2006
Romantic Relationships and Body Satisfaction Among Young Women
- Tijdschrift:
- Journal of Youth and Adolescence > Uitgave 2/2006
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Assistant Professor at Rutgers University. She received her PhD in psychology from the University of California at Riverside in 2002. Her research focuses on the development of body image and dieting behaviors and on understanding relations between personality and health.
Assistant Professor at Villanova University. He received his PhD in psychology from the University of California at Riverside in 2002. His research focuses primarily on interpersonal theory.
In the present study we examined associations between young women's romantic relationships and their body image. Ninety-five heterosexual couples (women's mean age=22.46 and men's mean age=24.38) participated in this study. We examined young women's satisfaction with their own bodies, their perceptions of their significant others’ satisfaction with their bodies, and their significant others’ actual satisfaction with their bodies using the Contour Drawing Rating Scale women's weight status was assessed using body mass index (BMI). Relationship constructs examined included relationship quality and the length of couples’ romantic relationships. Results indicated that females were more dissatisfied with their bodies than they perceived their significant others to be and were more dissatisfied than their significant others actually were. Analyses further indicated that the longer women had been in a relationship with their significant other, the more likely they were to incorrectly believe that their significant other wanted them to look thinner.