Investigating the Effects of Perceived and Actual Body Ratings on Marital Life

Human identity and sense of self are heavily dependent on the body and its physical attributes. Accordingly, human evaluation of these physical characteristics affects thought, feeling, attitudes, perception and behavior, and bring about a diverse array of consequences. Though research findings have revealed that body image is associated with a number of mental, psychological, and behavioral deficiencies in life, the effect of this construct on variables of marital quality of conflicting couples is rarely investigated. Thus, the current research was an attempt to investigate the relationship between body image disturbance (BID) and two of its related sub-constructs, i.e. perceived partner’s ideal beauty (PPIB) and actual partners rating (APR) with sexual self-esteem (SEE) and quality of marital relationship (QMR). To this aim, ۷۳ conflicting couples were selected through convenience and purpose sampling from a population of subjects referred to a counseling center in the city of Qom. These participants were administered appropriate scales on different variables. The data were collected and analyzed through SPSS. The results of Pearson’s correlation revealed a strong, negative correlation between the BID and the SEE, which was statistically significant (r = -.۸۹۷, n = ۷۳, p = .۰۰۰). Also, a multiple regression analysis showed that both PPIB and APR statistically significantly predicted SSE, F (۲, ۷۰) = ۱۴۵.۹۲۷, p < .۰۰۰۵, R۲= ۰.۸۰۷ and QMR, F (۲, ۷۰) = ۹۷.۷۵۸, p < .۰۰۰۵. R۲= ۰.۷۳۶. It was concluded that in spite of a meager difference between husbands’ and wives’ views about body image, this variable and the two sub-constructs associated with it correlated with SEE and served as statistically significant predictors of SEE and QMR. These findings have implications for psychologists, psychotherapists, and counselors.