Associations between having a boyfriend and the body satisfaction and self-esteem of college women: an extension of the Lin and Kulik hypothesis.

NEARLY UNIVERSAL BODY DISSATISFACTION among young Western women has often been attributed, at least in part, to the ubiquitous portrayals of extremely thin models in Western media (e.g., Gordon, 2000; Thompson & Heinberg, 1999). Lin and Kulik (2002) suggested that young women with boyfriends might be less likely to unfavorably compare themselves with these thin media models and consequently have less body dissatisfaction and higher self-esteem than those without boyfriends. Although Lin and Kulik’s study of exposure to thin and heavy models did not support this hypothesis, their hypothesis is consistent with Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). In Replications and Refinements