Disordered Eating Patterns and Sexual Self-Esteem in Married Women:The Mediating Role of Body Image Concern

The contemporary psychology is looking for numerous mediators and risk factors that may exacerbate the marital relationship with regard to the consequences of disordered eating patterns in general and sexual satisfaction in particular. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of body image concern in the relationship between disordered eating patterns and sexual self-esteem in married women.

The participants of this study were 213 married women who referred to the nutrition department of Kazerun City in 2019 and were selected by available sampling method. To collect data, Eating Attitudes Test (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979), Body Image Concern Inventory (Littleton et al., 2005), and Sexual Self-Esteem Inventory for Women (Zeanah, Schwarz, 1996) were used.

The results of structural equation modeling indicated that the three subscales of disordered eating patterns were directly associated with sexual self-esteem. Of the above-mentioned patterns, only the "overeating and food preoccupation" pattern affected sexual self-esteem indirectly by mediating of body image concern (β= -0.14, P< 0.01). Therefore, it can be argued that overeating and food preoccupation reduced the sexual self-esteem in married women by increasing the body image concern.  

Overall, the results of this study indicated the importance of simultaneous attention to disordered diets and body image concern for predicting sexual self-esteem in married women.