Abstract
The current study examines how body satisfaction of pregnant women compares to that of nonpregnant women. The sample included 68 pregnant and 927 nonpregnant young women who participated in a population-based longitudinal study examining eating and weight concerns in young adults. Body satisfaction was assessed using a 10-item modified version of the Body Shape Satisfaction Scale. The longitudinal design allowed for the assessment of body satisfaction among women both prior to and during their pregnancy. Mean body satisfaction was higher in pregnant women (32.6, 95% CI: 30.7-34.5) than nonpregnant women (29.6, 95% CI: 29.1-30.1) with moderate effect size 0.32, after adjusting for body satisfaction and body mass index prior to pregnancy, indicating that pregnant women experienced a significant increase in body satisfaction from the time prior to their pregnancy (p=.003) despite weight gain. These findings have important implications for clinicians delivering weight-related messages to women during pregnancy.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 297-300 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Body Image |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The project described was supported by Grant Number R01HL084064 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (D Neumark-Sztainer PI). Katie Loth's time was supported in part by the Adolescent Health Protection Program (School of Nursing, University of Minnesota) grant number T01-DP000112 (L Bearinger PI) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Hearth, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institutes of Health, or the CDC.
Keywords
- Body satisfaction
- Pregnancy
- Young adult