Do Body Mass and Internalized Sizeism Predict Women's Experience of Romantic Relationships?
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Authors
Cohn, Ruth H.
Issue Date
2019
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
"Internalized sizeism","weight discrimination","romantic relationships","weight stigma","relationship quality","ideal standards"
Alternative Title
Abstract
Introduction: Body mass index (BMI) is associated with poorer quality romantic relationships in women. It is unknown whether weight bias internalization (WBI) partially explains this relationship or if the effects are moderated by age or level of commitment to one's relationship.
Methods: 511 women (Mage 35 years, range 19-71; MBMI 35 kg/m2, range 17-61 ) in committed romantic relationships completed measures of WBI, relationship status (committed relationship/living together/married) and quality, ideal partner attributes*, and provided demographic and anthropometric information.
* -Perceived Relationship Quality Component Inventory [18 items]
-Ideal Partner and Ideal Relationship Scales [62 items]
-Weight Bias Internalization Scale - Modified [11 items]
Results: BMI and WBI were uncorrelated with relationship satisfaction. In separate regression analyses, WBI and BMI explained a statistically significant but small amount of additional variance in relationship quality: 0.9% and 1.0%, respectively, controlling for age, relationship status, and each other (WBI: F[1,506] = 4.699, p=0.031; BMI: F [1, 506] = 5.161, p = 0.024). WBI decreased slightly with age, p [509]= -0.11, p
Conclusion: BMI and WBI seem weakly predictive of women's relationship quality. Age differences may explain discrepancies with a previous report in primarily college-aged women.