TY - JOUR
T1 - Honey, do I look fat? Perceptions of spouses’ weight and weight concerns predict marital relationship quality
AU - Hochgraf, Anna K.
AU - McHale, Susan M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD29409, PIs: Susan M. McHale and Ann C. Crouter). We are grateful to the families who participated in our study. This project was supported by the Prevention and Methodology Training Program (T32 DA017629, PI: Linda M. Collins), funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research reported in this publication was also supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH Grants TL1 TR002016 and UL1 TR002014.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - The majority of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and yet Western ideals of beauty include low body fat composition as a component of physical attractiveness. In turn, perceived discrepancies between actual and ideal body shape and weight mean that many adults experience weight concerns—and they also may be dissatisfied with their spouse’s weight. This study examined whether weight concerns were linked to romantic relationship quality, an important domain of adult development. Specifically, we applied the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model to test how wives’ and husbands’ weight concerns and perceptions of their spouses’ overweight contributed to their own and their spouse’s reports of marital satisfaction and conflict over time. The sample was 197 heterosexual married couples (Mage = 40.85 and 42.81 years for wives and husbands, respectively; Mlength of marriage = 18.6 years at Time 1) with children, who participated in a short-term longitudinal study of family relationships and adolescent development. Two-way interactions between partner perceptions of spouses’ weight and gender indicated that husbands’ perceptions that their wives were overweight predicted decreases in wives’ marital satisfaction and increases in wives’ reports of marital conflict across 1 year. In contrast, wives’ perceptions of husbands’ weight were not associated with changes in husbands’ marital satisfaction or conflict. A two-way interaction between actor and partner weight concerns indicated that individuals reported more marital conflict when there was a discrepancy between their own and their spouse’s weight concerns. Finally, a two-way interaction between actor and partner perceptions of spouse’s weight indicated that, for individuals whose spouses rated them as below ideal weight, their perceptions of the spouse’s overweight predicted their own lower marital satisfaction. Findings suggest that concerns about one’s own and one’s spouse’s weight have negative ramifications for marital relationships.
AB - The majority of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and yet Western ideals of beauty include low body fat composition as a component of physical attractiveness. In turn, perceived discrepancies between actual and ideal body shape and weight mean that many adults experience weight concerns—and they also may be dissatisfied with their spouse’s weight. This study examined whether weight concerns were linked to romantic relationship quality, an important domain of adult development. Specifically, we applied the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model to test how wives’ and husbands’ weight concerns and perceptions of their spouses’ overweight contributed to their own and their spouse’s reports of marital satisfaction and conflict over time. The sample was 197 heterosexual married couples (Mage = 40.85 and 42.81 years for wives and husbands, respectively; Mlength of marriage = 18.6 years at Time 1) with children, who participated in a short-term longitudinal study of family relationships and adolescent development. Two-way interactions between partner perceptions of spouses’ weight and gender indicated that husbands’ perceptions that their wives were overweight predicted decreases in wives’ marital satisfaction and increases in wives’ reports of marital conflict across 1 year. In contrast, wives’ perceptions of husbands’ weight were not associated with changes in husbands’ marital satisfaction or conflict. A two-way interaction between actor and partner weight concerns indicated that individuals reported more marital conflict when there was a discrepancy between their own and their spouse’s weight concerns. Finally, a two-way interaction between actor and partner perceptions of spouse’s weight indicated that, for individuals whose spouses rated them as below ideal weight, their perceptions of the spouse’s overweight predicted their own lower marital satisfaction. Findings suggest that concerns about one’s own and one’s spouse’s weight have negative ramifications for marital relationships.
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U2 - 10.1177/0265407519880961
DO - 10.1177/0265407519880961
M3 - Article
C2 - 32095031
AN - SCOPUS:85074359892
SN - 0265-4075
VL - 37
SP - 865
EP - 884
JO - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
IS - 3
ER -