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Gender, sexual orientation, and romantic partner influence on body image: An examination of heterosexual and lesbian women and their partners

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Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Published online on

Abstract

Although social influences are implicated in the development of body image, research has yet to address the roles of women’s sexual orientation and romantic partners’ weight statuses in predicting women’s body image. This study examines both heterosexual (n = 104) and lesbian (n = 144) women and their partners’ body mass indexes and body image using actor–partner interdependence models. The results indicated that lesbian women preferred larger body ideals than heterosexual women and that women’s ideal body preferences were not related to their partners’ weight status. However, both lesbian and heterosexual women’s perceptions of their actual body size were related to their partners’ weight status such that heavier women who had relatively thin partners were most at risk of perceiving themselves as overweight.