210P
An Examination of the Relationship Between Body Appreciation and Mental Health Outcomes Among Women
Objectification theory posits that body shame leads to eating disorders and depression among women. Existing research has repeatedly supported these hypotheses. However, the inverse has not been studied: Does positive body image lead to lower rates of mental health consequences among women? Taking a strengths perspective and moving away from a pathology focus may lead to a better understanding of protective factors for women’s mental health, which could have far reaching implications for interventions.
Using objectification theory and the strengths perspective as frameworks, the aim of this study is to explore relationships between body appreciation, a multidimensional measure of positive body image, and mental health outcomes among a community-based sample of adult women. This study adds to the literature in two ways. First, most of the existing literature focuses on body dissatisfaction. A change in focus to positive body image can begin to clarify how women’s strengths may protect against poor mental health. Second, the majority of previous studies have been conducted with college-age women, whose experiences of body appreciation and mental health may be different than community-based samples. Thus, this sample may provide important insight into an understudied population. Two hypotheses were tested in this study: Higher body appreciation will predict lower rates of feeling downhearted in the past 4 weeks and higher body appreciation will predict lower rates of accomplishing less during the past 4 weeks.
Methods:
289 women completed an online cross-sectional study. Measures include the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) and two questions from the Health-Related Quality of Life scale: Feeling downhearted in the past 4 weeks and accomplishing less in the past 4 weeks due to emotional problems such as depression or anxiety. All analyses controlled for age and body mass index. Descriptive statistics first determined the characteristics of the sample. Next, linear and logistic regressions were run.
Results:
48% of the sample reported feeling downhearted in the past 4 weeks some of the time, a good bit of the time, most of the time, or all of the time and 57% reported accomplishing less in the past 4 weeks due to emotional problems. Both hypotheses were supported. Body appreciation significantly predicted lower rates of feeling downhearted in the past 4 weeks (b = .59, t(287) = 6.75, p < .001) and explained approximately 16% of the variance. Body appreciation also significantly predicted lower rates of accomplishing less in the past 4 weeks (OR = 2.13, p < .001). For each 1 point increase in body appreciation, participants were 2.13 times less likely to report accomplishing less in the past 4 weeks due to emotional problems.
Conclusions/Implications:
Higher body appreciation was related to lower rates of negative mental health outcomes in this sample of women. Objectification theory would suggest that women with higher body appreciation are able to buffer against sexual objectification and, thus, experience fewer negative mental health outcomes. Our results suggest that interventions to increase body appreciation among women may have a positive impact on women’s mental health.