Exploring the influence of sociocultural factors on body dissatisfaction in postpartum women

Abstract

Pregnancy and childbirth result in dramatic changes in a woman's body shape and weight, which are often associated with body image concerns. Little is known about the factors that influence body dissatisfaction in postpartum women, or the extent to which this constitutes a time of risk for eating disorders. To bridge this gap, we extended the Tripartite Influence Model among women who had given birth during the last 12 months (N=689) and who completed an online survey. Participants were 30.6 years old (SD=4.8) and 53% were primiparous. Measures included a sociocultural pressures scale modified for the postpartum experience assessing pressure from media, peers, family and partners, and well-established measures of thin-ideal internalization, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, and drive for muscularity, and disordered eating. Structural Equation Modeling analyses revealed that the addition of the partner influence variable to the Tripartite Influence Model improved the model fit to the data by 25%; χ2 (49) = 220.20, p < 0.001, RMSEA = .086, CFI = .93. The sociocultural variables (i.e., media, partners, family, peers) explained 59% of the variance in thin-ideal internalization and comparison, with media influences emerging as the strongest (β = .58). Bootstrapping analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of media, family, peer, and partner pressures on body dissatisfaction, psychological functioning, bulimic symptomatology, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity, through the thin-ideal internalization and comparison latent variable. Qualitative data highlighted themes of body dissatisfaction, appearance comparison, occupational pressures, and the drive for muscularity during the postpartum period. Findings suggest that women experience strong sociocultural pressures to attain an unrealistic body shape and size during the post-pregnancy period. Furthermore, partners may play an important role in reinforcing thin-ideal messages during this vulnerable time.