Associations Between Body Image And Romantic Relationship Quality:Tests Of A Meta-Analysis And Mediation Models

Considerable past literature has assessed links between romantic relationship quality and body image perceptions.However,associations have been somewhat inconsistent,so it is difficult to draw overall conclusions about the strength of this relationship.Furthermore.individual studies in this area have been based largely on samples in Western countries that may not apply to Asian samples,have relied on cross-sectional research designs that cannot capture changes in relations over time,and have focused heavily on individuals rather than on couples.On a related note,researchers have typically examined links between relationship quality and personal body image ratings but have overlooked relations between relationship quality and ratings of one’s partner’s body and perceptions of the partner’s ratings one’s own body.To address these gaps in the current literature,four studies were undertaken in this thesis.Study 1 comprised a systematic review and meta-analysis of currently dating or married samples designed to determine(1)the overall situations of the relationship between romantic relationship quality and body image perceptions(i.e.,personal body ratings,ratings of the body of one’s partner,perceived partner ratings of one’s body,partner’s perceived personal body image,and partner’s ratings of actor’s body),as well as(2)factors that might help to explain inconsistent results in this literature.A search of Web of Science,Psyc INFO,Science Direct,Pub Med,and Google Scholar have resulted in 74 studies that were subsequently subjected to meta-analyses.Results indicated more satisfactory romantic relationships were associated with more positive ratings of body image on all five body image measures.All associations were statistically significant and the effect size magnitudes were ranged from small to above medium.The strongest association was between actor’s personal relationship quality and actor’s ratings the partner’s body.And among the five overall analyses,the associations were moderated by varied moderators,such as sexual orientation and ethnicity that body image ratings of all aspects which contained studies with different sexual orientation samples showed higher correlations with relationship quality in heterosexuals.And the more Caucasians in the sample,the less one’s ratings of partner’s body,as well as partner’s ratings of actor’s body and one’s relationship quality were associated.Study 2 evaluated a mixed moderated mediation model from the individual perspective,within Chinses heterosexual young adults who were currently dating,to fathom the mediation roles of perceived partner’s satisfaction with self’s body and satisfaction with partner’s body in the associations between personal body satisfaction and romantic relationship satisfaction,and gender differences within these interactions.Participants were 382 students from Southwest University who completed several self-report measures,including the demographics,the general body satisfaction measure and body part satisfaction measure aimed at different aspects of body image(i.e.,personal body satisfaction,satisfaction with partner’s body,and perceived partner’s satisfaction with self’s body),as well as relationship satisfaction measure within a cross-sectional design.Moderated mediation analyses in which personal body satisfaction was treated as the predictor,relationship satisfaction was employed as the outcome,perceived partner’s satisfaction and satisfaction with the partner’s body were set as mediators,and gender was entered as a moderator,indicated that personal body satisfaction and romantic relationship satisfaction were not directly connected.However,the perceived partner’s satisfaction with the self’s body and satisfaction with the partner’s body played the significant indirect role both parallelly and serially.Especially,only women’s personal body satisfaction projected on their perceived partner’s satisfaction with self’s body accordingly affected their relationship satisfaction.And although both men and women showed consistent standards when evaluating their partner’s body as self’s therefore affecting relationship satisfaction,men showed more rigid consistency.Additionally,men showed stronger partner-related projection in their perceived partner’s satisfaction with self’s body too which was affected by their satisfaction with their partner’s body more.Study 3 was designed to assess relationship quality-body image relations within young dating heterosexual couples based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model(APIMe M),an approach that allowed for the assessment of associations between self-and partner-reported relationship quality and body satisfaction.The sample comprised 166 young adult,dating heterosexual couples(n = 322)who completed several questionnaires including demographics,relationship satisfaction measure,eating disorder measure,body appreciation measure,and general body satisfaction measure of different aspects(i.e.,satisfaction with one’s own body,with the body of one’s partner,and perceived partner satisfaction with one’s own body).Here within a cross-sectional design,APIMe M analyses indicated women’s relationship satisfaction was directly predicted by their perceived partner’s satisfaction with self’s body and their partner’s actual satisfaction with self’s body only.Women’s personal body satisfaction and satisfaction with their partner’s body also cast influence on their relationship satisfaction indirectly,mainly through the projections.Men’s personal body satisfaction also had a partner effect on women’s relationship satisfaction indirectly,through men’s satisfaction with their partner’s body and women’s satisfaction with men‘s body projecting on women’s perceptions of partner’s satisfaction with their(women’s)body.Men’s relationship satisfaction,instead,was only directly predicted by their own and their partner’s satisfaction with their partner’s body.Women’s personal body satisfaction also had a partner effect on men’s relationship satisfaction indirectly through both members’ satisfaction with their partner’s body.Given that a major limitation of past research has been its reliance on cross-sectional study designs Study 4 adopted a longitudinal design to examine changes in romantic relationship quality and body image over time.The sample comprised 122 couples from Study 3 who also completed same measures of Study 3 at a nine-month follow-up.Adopting the hierarchic lineaer regressions,with baseline relationship satisfaction,demographics,baseline body image variables and follow-up body image variables entered step by step,results indicated that baseline self-report body image had weak unique associations with relationship satisfaction at the follow-up,after controlling previous relationship satisfaction levels for both men and women.However,after controlling previous related variables,follow-up individual body image responses made a significant unique contribution to the prediction of follow-up romantic relationship satisfaction.Of the particular body image ratings,higher follow-up satisfaction levels with the partner’s body had the most pronounced effect on the personal relationship satisfaction of both men and women at the follow-up.Similarly,the dynamic APIMe M model testing associations between changes in body image ratings and changes in relationship satisfaction revealed increases in both men’s and women’s relationship satisfaction over 9 months were directly predicted by increases in both actor’s and partner’s satisfaction with their partner’s body over9 months.For women,increases in personal body satisfaction over nine months were also related to increases in their own relationship satisfaction indirectly,through increases in both actor’s and partner’s satisfaction with their partner’s body.The four studies in this thesis extended the literature on associations between body image and romantic relationship quality in several ways.First,the meta-analysis indicated that,despite some contradictory results from individual studies,high levels of body image based on personal and partner ratings have significant,positive overall associations with romantic relationship quality in the overall literature;related effect size magnitudes were small to above medium.Second,several studies were designed to illuminate body image-relationship quality relations within young Chinese adult samples.Study 2 and 3 indicated one’s personal body image did not directly influence his or her own and partner’s relationship quality directly.However,these associations were influenced indirectly through own perceived partner’s ratings,ratings of partner’s body,or partner’s ratings of self’s body.In addition,women’s perceived partner’s ratings and their male partner’s ratings of women’s bodies were the strongest body image influence in the prediction of both members’ current relationship satisfaction in Chinee couples based on cross-sectional analyses.Finally,the longitudinal analysis indicated within romantic relationships,increases in satisfaction with their partner’s body over nine months were the most significant body image correlates of increases in relationship satisfaction of both women and men at a nine-month follow-up.By conducting empirical studies within Chinese young heterosexual dating samples,this study filled the gap of research vacant in the Chinese cultural context.And by using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methodology,this thesis thoroughly testified to the intercorrelations between different aspects of body image ratings and romantic relationship quality both presently and the changes in time.And from both individual and dyadic perspectives,this thesis revealed the interdependence of the couple’s relationship,and both the actor and the partner effect of body image ratings on relationship quality.Generally,this thesis unearthed the interactions of different aspects of body image ratings and offered internal evidence of how a personal variable can affect relationship dynamics which echoed and extended the past theories about romantic relationship maintenance.