Body Image and Disordered Eating in Romantic Relationships

Abstract

this study explored the relations between eating, weight, and shape (eWS) concerns and romantic relationships in college women and their partners. eightyeight heterosexual couples (176 individuals) completed two assessments spaced two months apart. results indicated that neither women's relationship functioning nor perceptions of their partners' desired changes in their bodies predicted changes in women's eWS concerns. however, after controlling for women's values, men's relationship functioning, as well as men's desired change in their partners' bodies, predicted changes in women's eWS concerns. there was partial support for the idea that eWS constructs would predict changes in relationship functioning; specifically, several types of women's eWS concerns predicted changes in women's and men's relationship outcomes two months later. additionally, after controlling for women's perceptions, men's desired change in their partners' bodies predicted change in women's relationship outcomes. overall, this study found some support for the bidirectional nature of relations between women's eWS concerns and their romantic relationship functioning, and it highlighted the importance of obtaining men's reports when exploring these relations.

Impact of Parental Binge Eating Disorder: Exploring Children's Emotional/Behavioral Problems and the Quality of Parent–child Feeding Interactions

“…In this study, couple dynamics reciprocally influenced EDs in both partners and affected the quality of communication and parents’ agreement on caregiving styles. The result is that one parent's style of rearing often prevails over the other (Morrison, Doss, & Perez, ). Based on the results of our study, we propose that the joint risk of mothers’ and fathers’ diagnoses was channeled into the poor quality of mother–infant feeding interactions, predicting affective and anxiety symptoms in their offspring.…”

Reciprocal Influence of Couple Dynamics and Eating Disorders

“…Examining eating disorders and couple relationships from the other side, some researchers have studied how intimate partnerships affect eating disorder illness processes, specifically pertaining to weight and shape concerns. For one study, conducted by Morrison, Doss, and Perez (), 88 heterosexual couples were given questionnaires that measured the causal connection between (a) their relationship and (b) eating, weight, and shape concerns across two time points, 2 months apart. Partner comments about weight and shape were shown to have a negative influence on female partners' relationship satisfaction, as well as beliefs about their bodies and levels of body satisfaction.…”

Weight comments by family and significant others in young adulthood

“…In particular, romantic partners may play an important role in the ongoing re-evaluation of weight, shape, and general appearance satisfaction (Tantleff-Dunn & Thompson, 1995), replacing other peer relationships as a powerful source of feedback. Most research regarding romantic partners, however, has focused on two areas: misperceptions about one's partner's “ideal” weight for the opposite sex (Markey & Markey, 2006; Tantleff-Dunn & Thompson, 1995), and the association between body image and more general relationship functioning (McKinley & Randa, 2005; Morrison, Doss, & Perez, 2009; Pole, Crowther, & Schell, 2004). We identified only one study examining the frequency of weight-related comments among young adults in romantic relationships.…”