2. • Healthy for Partner
• Focus on health and wellness as a way to promote relationships
• Mix of men and women
• Self-Focused
• Seeing oneself as physically health and attractive before
considering partner
• Mainly men
• Attraction of Partner
• Body as part of courting process; attracting and maintaining
partner
• Mainly women
3. • Greater body satisfaction is significantly related to how
satisfied people perceive their partners to be with their
bodies
• Body image was found to significantly predict individual’s
sexual frequency and greater sexual experience
• Vicious cycle: poor body image poor sexual
experience higher body image anxiety
• Men’s body image
• Women’s body image
• LGBT relationships
4. • Martial discord is prominent when one or both partners
experience body dissatisfaction
• Women often strive harder than their husbands to be thin
for their partner
• Women with poor body image leads to martial
dissatisfaction for both spouses
• Men, before and after marriage, consider is highly
important that their partner has the ideal body
• Many partners feel obligated to keep a low body weight
to avoid affairs, abandonment, or divorce
• After becoming parents, both partners experience body
dissatisfaction
5. • More research!
• Counseling
• Couples or Individual Counseling
• Body Positive Posts
• Self-Care Dates
• Improving Communication
• Sex Therapy
6. • Goins, L. B. (2010). Understanding men's body image in the
context of their romantic relationships (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Rutgers University, Camden, NJ.
• Markey, C. N., & Markey, P. M. (2006). Romantic relationships
and body satisfaction among young women. Journal of Youth
and Adolescence, 35(2), 271-279.
• Markey, C. N., & Markey, P. M. (2013). Gender, sexual
orientation, and romantic partner influence on body image: An
examination of heterosexual and lesbian women and their
partners. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1-16.
• Schermer, T., & Burns, C. (2014, November). Body satisfaction
before and after marriage. Paper presented at the annual
meeting of the Pennsylvania Counseling Association, State
College, PA.
Editor's Notes
Lack of Research on Men’s, LGBT, and Eating Disorders
Rutgers University
How we view our body
Healthy for Partner
Focused on health and wellness, over attractiveness in general, as a way to promote their relationship
Mainly women, some men
“Being sexually attractive means feeling good about how your body looks and feels. Being married means having someone else that depends on you—it is important for me to be healthy for myself and him.”
Self-Focused
Seeing oneself as physically healthy and attractive before considering one’s partner.
Comprised largely of men’s views
“When I am fit, I feel good…I also feel more attractive, which is good in our sexual relationships.”
Attraction of Partner
Viewed the body as a part of the courting process; attracting and maintaining a connection with their partner.
Mainly women
“Sexual attraction and sexual relationships are a very important part of dating. I wanted to attract a potential spouse.”
Body Image and Relationships
Studies indicate that the actual views of a romantic partner seem to be more important to an individual’s body image than his or her perception of their partner’s views
College-aged couples, greater body satisfaction were significantly related to how satisfied they perceived their partners to be with their bodies
Individual’s perceptions of their partner's view of their bodies have been linked to romantic relationship satisfaction
Body image was found to significantly predict individual’s sexual frequency and was linked to greater sexual experience
Becomes a vicious cycle: poor body image poor sexual relationship, poor body image sexual dysfunction and partner’s interpret that as being unattractive to their partners and have higher body image anxiety
Men’s Body Image
Very few studies, this research is relatively new
More likely to be satisfied with their bodies when they perceived their partners to be and when they actually were satisfied with their bodies
Expressed greater body satisfaction when there was a relatively high degree of sexual intimacy in the relationship
Women’s Body Image
Men have insight into when their partner actually is satisfied
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
The longer women were in a relationship, the more likely they were to incorrectly believe that their significant other wanted them to look thinner
Women were more likely to disclose that body image influenced sexual relations and that their relationships affected their self-confidence
LGBTQ
Very little research
Lesbian women preferred larger body ideals than heterosexual women
Women’s ideal body preferences were not related to their partners’ weight status
Both lesbian and heterosexual women’s perceptions of their actual body size were related to their partners’ weight status such that heavier women with thin partners were most at risk for body dissatisfaction
PCA Presentation on Martial Satisfaction and Body Image
Martial discord is prominent when one or both partners experience body dissatisfaction
Both men and women have the desire for their partner to assure their attraction towards them
Men are less satisfied in their marriage if their Partners have a higher BMI than they do
Wives often strive harder than their husbands to be thin for their partner
Wives who have a poor body image see themselves as less sexually desirable, leading to martial dissatisfaction for both spouses
Man, before and after marriage, consider it highly important that their partner has the ideal body
Many partners feel more obligated after marriage to maintain a low BMI so that they are pleasing to their partner and do not face the danger of affairs, abandonment, or divorce
After becoming parents, both husbands and wives often experience body dissatisfaction
Women are more concerned about how their husbands see their body, than men are with how their wives see their body
More Research
LGBT, men’s, eating disorders, before and after relationships, techniques to improve
Counseling
Couples Counseling: Exercises to improve each other’s body image
Body Positive Post: E-mail, post, text positive body image quotes and inspirations, reminders of your appreciation of their body
Self-care dates: spa days, massages, doing something active
Listen to each other and improve communication
Individual Counseling: deep rooted issues
