Postpartum women's body satisfaction and appearance management behaviors

Breda Mary Fitzgerald

The postpartum experience is a time of major change in a woman's life. Once a woman has delivered her baby, she is thrust into a radically different routine with new challenges to her physical body, identity, body satisfaction and lifestyle. This transition period could be aided by improving women's body satisfaction through appearance management behaviors. Using Goffman's (1959) Presentation of Self as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to explore postpartum women's body satisfaction, body appreciation, appearance importance, and appearance management behaviors, specifically apparel choices. For this mixed methodology study a survey was developed to measure body image, body satisfaction, appearance importance, and apparel and body changes through the use of measurable scales and open-ended questions. A total of 70 surveys were completed with a sample of primarily Caucasian women (94%) with a median age of 33 years, who had given birth within the last five years. Results found that postpartum women who had given birth within the last 3 to 5 years had lower body satisfaction compared to the other groups. Postpartum women were found to be appreciative of their bodies and not place great importance on appearance. Open-ended responses identified ten categories related to apparel appearance management behaviors. Results found that postpartum women used clothing to conceal their stomachs and emphasize different areas of their bodies. Apparel sizes increased and women chose apparel that was loose, comfortable and practical. Postpartum women acquired new 'props' including belly bands, nursing bras and shapewear. Postpartum women expressed a loss for their pre-pregnancy style and found their postpartum style to be 'frumpy.' Appearance management behaviors were found to be a potentially good coping mechanism for poor body satisfaction but due to a lack of affordable and stylish product offering postpartum women aren't able to utilize apparel items. Currently, postpartum women aren't using apparel to boost body satisfaction but rather a way of hiding their bodies through loose, comfortable styles. Recommendations were made for apparel designs and researchers to further explore ways of improving postpartum apparel product designs and retail offerings.

Postpartum women's body satisfaction and appearance management behaviors

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