Motherhood Can Boost Self-Image and Body Satisfaction

Becoming a mother makes women feel more at ease and become comfortable with their bodies, reveals a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Body Image.

The study suggests that perfectionism is related to breast size dissatisfaction, but only in non-mothers.

‘Motherhood can boost positive body image. Post giving birth, breastfeeding women tend to focus more on the essential functions of their breasts and not on the aesthetics of breasts and their bodies in general.’

Of the 484 Italian women surveyed for the study, 69 percent reported breast size dissatisfaction, with 44 percent wanting larger breasts.

"There is the fact that becoming a mother naturally results in changes to the appearance of the breasts, particularly in terms of their size," said study co-author Viren Swami, Professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Britain.

"But perhaps the most relevant is that becoming a mother and particularly the experience of breastfeeding may focus women's attention on breast functionality as opposed to focusing on the aesthetics of breasts and the body," Swami added.

Perfectionistic self-presentation the desire to create an image of flawlessness in the eyes of other people is known to contribute towards negative body image.

The study found that breast size dissatisfaction was associated with higher levels of two of the three factors behind perfectionistic self-presentation - non-display of imperfection and perfectionistic self-promotion.

However, this association was not found among the 54 percent of women surveyed who were mothers. This was particularly the case among women who had more than one child.

"Our findings suggest that motherhood may help to decouple the link between perfectionistic self-presentation and breast size dissatisfaction," Swami said.

Source: IANS