Body valuation and relationship satisfaction

Although extant research demonstrates that body valuation by strangers has negative implications for women, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that body valuation by a committed male partner is positively associated with women’s relationship satisfaction when that partner also values them for their nonphysical qualities, but negatively associated with women’s relationship satisfaction when that partner is not committed or does not value them for their nonphysical qualities. Study 3 demonstrates that body valuation by a committed female partner is negatively associated with men’s relationship satisfaction when that partner does not also value them for their nonphysical qualities but unassociated with men’s satisfaction otherwise. These findings join others demonstrating that fully understanding the implications of interpersonal processes requires considering the interpersonal context. Men frequently value women for the appearance of their bodies. For example, men stare at women’s bodies (Kozee, Tylka, AugustusHorvath, & Denchik, 2007; Quinn, 2002), make comments and gestures to women about their bodies (Kozee et al., 2007; Swim, Hyers, Cohen, & Ferguson, 2001), and even reduce women to being nothing more than their body (Gervais, Vescio, & Allen, 2011). What are the implications of such body valuation for women? Previous research suggests that the consequences for women of being valued for their bodies are mostly negative. Specifically, research in support of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) demonstrates that women who are valued Andrea L. Meltzer, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University; James K. McNulty, Department of Psychology, Florida State University. Preparation for this article was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Development Grant RHD058314A. We thank Rebekah Grace McGaha for her assistance in data collection and data entry. Correspondence should be addressed to Andrea L. Meltzer, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750442, Dallas, TX 75275-0442, e-mail: ameltzer@smu.edu. for their bodies and body parts tend to view themselves as sexual objects rather than complete human beings (Bartky, 1990; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) and thus experience decreased well-being (Aubrey, 2006; Fredrickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge, 1998; Liss, Erchull, & Ramsey, 2011; Szymanski & Henning, 2007; Tiggemann, 2001). For example, women who either anticipate being looked at by a man (Calogero, 2004) or report being the target of men’s cat-calls and whistles (Fairchild & Rudman, 2008) report increased levels of anxiety. In fact, merely reminding women that men value them for their bodies (e.g., exposing women to images of sexualized women, asking women to try on a swimsuit) decreases self-esteem and increases disordered eating (Aubrey, 2006; Fredrickson et al., 1998; Tiggemann, 2001). Partner’s body valuation and women’s satisfaction with their intimate relationships Nevertheless, virtually all that work has examined the implications of women’s experiences of being valued for their bodies in the context of broad, societal messages or in interactions