Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun;27(5):1887-1893.
doi: 10.1007/s40519-021-01324-z. Epub 2021 Oct 26.

The interaction between BMI, weight criticism, weight bias, and psychological and relational outcomes within marriage

Robert A Carels  1 , J Caroline Miller  2 , Reid Hlavka  2 , Abigail M T Shonrock  2
Affiliations

The interaction between BMI, weight criticism, weight bias, and psychological and relational outcomes within marriage

Robert A Carels et al. Eat Weight Disord. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine (1) whether a wife's BMI interacts with either her husband's weight stigma or (2) her perceived weight criticisms from her husband predict husbands' and wives' psychological and relational outcomes.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 209 currently married men and women in a heterosexual relationship. Participants were drawn from an online survey platform (Qualtrics, Inc. Provo, UT) designed to approximate the US population on age, race, and region of the country. Online measures assessed husbands' weight stigma, wives' perceived weight criticisms from husband, and husbands' and wives': (1) relationship satisfaction, (2) sexual intimacy, (3) self-esteem, (4) depressive symptoms, and (5) perceptions of a desirable or ideal mate.

Results: Wives' BMI interacted with husbands' weight stigma to predict (1) mate value for husbands and wives and (2) marital satisfaction for husbands. The same pattern was noted with interaction of wives' BMI and perceptions of husbands' weight related criticisms. The interaction reflected that higher wife BMI and higher husband weight stigma or wife perceived weight-related criticism predicted lower marital satisfaction, greater depression, and lower perceptions of a desirable or an ideal mate. Lower BMI was not associated with outcomes regardless of the husbands' weight stigma or wives' perceived weight-related criticisms.

Conclusion: To understand the impact of weight stigma and weight related criticisms on perceptions of a desirable or ideal mate and marital outcomes, it is important to examine the interaction with partner's BMI.

Level of evidence: III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.

Keywords: Marital satisfaction; Mate value; Psychological distress; Self-esteem; Sexual intimacy; Weight criticisms; Weight stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Puhl RM, Heuer CA (2009) The stigma of obesity: a review and update. Obesity 17(5):1–24 - DOI
    1. Carels RA, Rossi J, Solar C, Selensky JC (2018) Changes in perceived mate value and weight bias associated with former obesity status. Stigma Health 3(4):338 - DOI
    1. Pearl RL, Wadden TA, Tronieri JS, Chao AM, Alamuddin N, Bakizada ZM et al (2018) Sociocultural and familial factors associated with weight bias internalization. Obes Facts 11(2):157–164 - DOI
    1. Eisenberg ME, Franz R, Berge JM, Loth KA, Neumark-Sztainer D (2017) Significant others’ weight-related comments and their associations with weight-control behavior, muscle-enhancing behavior, and emotional well-being. Fam Syst Health 35(4):474 - DOI
    1. Sheets V, Ajmere K (2005) Are romantic partners a source of college students’ weight concerns? Eat Behav 6(1):1–9 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources