Unhealthy body change behaviors, such as eating disorder symptoms and muscle dysmorphia symptoms, can cause serious harm in individuals’ lives, impacting physical and emotional health. Body change behaviors have been shown to be associated with body dissatisfaction and body talk. However, individuals’ body talk with their romantic partner has not been well examined. The current study investigated the relationships between body talk with a romantic partner, gender, and body dissatisfaction with body change strategies, using a hierarchical regression that included direct relationships and interaction effects. Participants were college students who took an online study for class credit. Body dissatisfaction and body talk with a romantic partner were significant predictors of unhealthy body change behaviors, though they did not significantly interact with each other. Gender was found to interact only with body dissatisfaction with muscularity, suggesting that many of the relationships might not be fundamentally different for men and women.
","abstract_html":"<p>Unhealthy body change behaviors, such as eating disorder symptoms and muscle dysmorphia symptoms, can cause serious harm in individuals’ lives, impacting physical and emotional health. Body change behaviors have been shown to be associated with body dissatisfaction and body talk. However, individuals’ body talk with their romantic partner has not been well examined. The current study investigated the relationships between body talk with a romantic partner, gender, and body dissatisfaction with body change strategies, using a hierarchical regression that included direct relationships and interaction effects. Participants were college students who took an online study for class credit. Body dissatisfaction and body talk with a romantic partner were significant predictors of unhealthy body change behaviors, though they did not significantly interact with each other. Gender was found to interact only with body dissatisfaction with muscularity, suggesting that many of the relationships might not be fundamentally different for men and women.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ellis, Lillian"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Chong Man Chow, Ph.D.","Claudia Drossel, Ph.D., Ph.D.","Karen Saules, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:33Z","subjects":["Eating disorder","Fat talk","Muscle dysmorphia","Muscle talk","Romantic relationships","Medicine and Health Sciences","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/971","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Chong Man Chow, Ph.D.","Claudia Drossel, Ph.D., Ph.D.","Karen Saules, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ellis, Lillian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-05-31T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Eating disorder","Fat talk","Muscle dysmorphia","Muscle talk","Romantic relationships","Medicine and Health Sciences","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/971"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Unhealthy body change behaviors, such as eating disorder symptoms and muscle dysmorphia symptoms, can cause serious harm in individuals’ lives, impacting physical and emotional health. Body change behaviors have been shown to be associated with body dissatisfaction and body talk. However, individuals’ body talk with their romantic partner has not been well examined. The current study investigated the relationships between body talk with a romantic partner, gender, and body dissatisfaction with body change strategies, using a hierarchical regression that included direct relationships and interaction effects. Participants were college students who took an online study for class credit. Body dissatisfaction and body talk with a romantic partner were significant predictors of unhealthy body change behaviors, though they did not significantly interact with each other. Gender was found to interact only with body dissatisfaction with muscularity, suggesting that many of the relationships might not be fundamentally different for men and women.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Interaction between body talk in romantic relationships and body dissatisfaction on unhealthy body change behaviors"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Chong Man Chow, Ph.D.","Claudia Drossel, Ph.D., Ph.D.","Karen Saules, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Ellis, Lillian"],"dc:date.available":["2019-05-31T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Unhealthy body change behaviors, such as eating disorder symptoms and muscle dysmorphia symptoms, can cause serious harm in individuals’ lives, impacting physical and emotional health. Body change behaviors have been shown to be associated with body dissatisfaction and body talk. However, individuals’ body talk with their romantic partner has not been well examined. The current study investigated the relationships between body talk with a romantic partner, gender, and body dissatisfaction with body change strategies, using a hierarchical regression that included direct relationships and interaction effects. Participants were college students who took an online study for class credit. Body dissatisfaction and body talk with a romantic partner were significant predictors of unhealthy body change behaviors, though they did not significantly interact with each other. Gender was found to interact only with body dissatisfaction with muscularity, suggesting that many of the relationships might not be fundamentally different for men and women.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/971"],"dc:subject":["Eating disorder","Fat talk","Muscle dysmorphia","Muscle talk","Romantic relationships","Medicine and Health Sciences","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Interaction between body talk in romantic relationships and body dissatisfaction on unhealthy body change behaviors"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:33Z"}