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ABSTRACT
American women have long been affected by perceptions of beauty being described as the thin female idealizing standards far below the standards for what is considered the ideal body weight. Women have also been strongly influenced by their partners and the opinions that are expressed. To explore this concept further, 170 females were assessed to determine whether romantic partner social support could be a predictor of female body image and eating disturbances. Of the 117 participants that met full criteria for the project, the measures for figure rating preferences, eating disturbance, and body image dissatisfaction were investigated. Along with these indicators, intimate bonding, self-esteem, stress, general social support, and romantic partner support were also collected. Statistical results supported that higher body image dissatisfaction was inversely related to the perception of lower levels of romantic partner support. In addition, esteem support was predictive of female body image disturbance, with no support style being predictive of female eating disturbance. Therefore, findings in this study highlight that receiving support from a romantic partner and general support from other intimates can be directly related to report levels of body image disturbance and anxiety associated with physical appearance. Results are presented to assist evidence-based practice efforts stressing the need to identify and foster all possible types of supportive communication used within intimate relationships.
