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The Relationship Between Body Image Dissatisfaction with Social Physique Anxiety and Exercise Behaviors in the Context of Romantic Relationship

Body Image Dissatisfaction (BID) has been considered as one of the important antecedents of Social Physique Anxiety (SPA; Hart, Leary, & Rejeski, 1989). However, the context of romantic relationship has yet to be considered in extant studies on the relationship between BID and SPA. The aim of the present study was to explore moderating effect of several romantic relationship variables in the relationship between BID with partner-SPA and exercise behaviors. College age students (N = 207, Mage = 20.92, SDage = 1.60) completed online questionnaires on body image dissatisfaction, romantic relationship status, length, and romantic relationship satisfaction, exercise behaviors, and partner-SPA. There was a positive yet insignificant correlation between BID and exercise behaviors (r = .07). Therefore, they were excluded from moderating effect analyses. Results indicated that only romantic relationship satisfaction moderated in the relationship between BID and partner-SPA. It was concluded that poor romantic relationship increased the risks of partner-SPA in college students when they were already concerned with body image. After controlling BID, the partner-SPA was consistently higher among undergraduate students who reported lower romantic relationship satisfaction than those who report higher relationship satisfaction. The threshold level of BID that led to significant difference in partner-SPA across different levels of romantic relationship satisfaction was not examined in this study, and warrants further investigation. It was suggested that romantic relationship status should be considered as an important source of body-image-related concerns in future research and counseling practices. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 18, 2013. / Body image, Exercise, Moderator, Romantic Relationship, Social Physique
Anxiety / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Eklund, Professor Directing Thesis; Gershon Tenebaum, Committee Member; Insu Paek, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183798
ContributorsLiu, Jingwen (authoraut), Eklund, Robert (professor directing thesis), Tenebaum, Gershon (committee member), Paek, Insu (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University, Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf
RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them.

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