Interaction between body talk in romantic relationships and body dissatisfaction on unhealthy body change behaviors

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Ellis, Lillian

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chong Man Chow, Ph.D.
• Claudia Drossel, Ph.D., Ph.D.
• Karen Saules, Ph.D.

• Eating disorder
• Fat talk
• Muscle dysmorphia
• Muscle talk
• Romantic relationships
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/971

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2347