Psychologists at Florida State University have concluded that marriage to a more attractive man can provoke a woman into eating disorders.
It is well known that physical demands are related to gender. Thus, women are more likely than men to report dissatisfaction with their own weight, which is reflected in their eating behavior. The factor that determines this is, for example, romantic relationships. It is curious that regardless of gender, the optimal situation for both partners is (and polls confirm this) when a beautiful woman forms a couple with a less attractive man. Otherwise, he may experience dissatisfaction, while she will probably independently strive to improve her appearance. In Western culture, this will manifest itself in weight loss, since body shrinkage is associated with femininity.
The authors of the new work tested how attractiveness of a partner correlates with motivation to change appearance and diet taking into account gender. The study involved 113 couples who were married less than four months ago. The choice was due to the fact that in the short term, men are more inclined to adapt their image to the wishes of their spouse. At the first stage, the volunteers completed two questionnaires - the eating attitude test subscale (EAT-26) and the eating behavior assessment scale (EDI). They included statements such as "I feel deep guilt after eating" and "I like it when my stomach is empty." The tendency towards thinness was seen as dissatisfaction with oneself.
The scientists then photographed the subjects' upper and lower bodies. The photographs were shown to ten trained assistants, who were supposed to assess the attractiveness of partners on a ten-point scale as impartially as possible. At the same time, the face of the spouses was shown to one subgroup (mostly consisting of women), and the torso was shown to the other. Thus, psychologists could compare the self-perception of the volunteers with the opinion of independent experts. To ensure that the first indicator was not affected by temporary disappointment in the current marriage, the researchers also asked participants to complete surveys on satisfaction with marriage and an inventory of obligations.
The relationship between the beauty and motivation of women to diet and the attractiveness of a partner / © TaniaReynolds et al., Body Image, 2017
The analysis confirmed that all parameters were significantly correlated. Moreover, the wives of less beautiful husbands were more satisfied with their own weight, while attractive men were more often associated with increased women's motivation for diets. The tendency was not explained by the perception of marriage, and it hardly manifested itself in the husbands. According to scientists, the findings indicate that a relationship with a man can be a risk factor for eating disorders for a woman if she is less attractive than him. At the same time, the work did not take into account possible protective strategies of the spouses, for example, unconditional acceptance. She also did not test whether the effect was related to the beauty of other women.
The article was published in Body Image magazine.
Researchers have previously clarified how body image is associated with the onset of smoking and alcoholism in adolescents.