Spouses' Body Image Changes During and After Pregnancy: A Replication in Canada

This longitudinal study replicated an investigation of the relationship between wives' and husbands' strength of identification and similarities in their patterns of change in perceived body space and global body attitude during pregnancy and the postpartum. The sample included 20 married Canadian couples. The results replicate a U. S. study that found no similarities in wives' and husbands' changes in perceived body space or global body attitude and no relationship between strength of identification and similarities in perceived body space and global body attitude changes. As in the U.S. study, there were statistically significant changes in the wives' perceived body space and global body attitude from the third month of pregnancy to the second postpartal month but no changes in the husbands' perceived body space or global body attitude.