Weighty matters for women

Women are happier with their own body weight if they believe men find larger women attractive.

In three US studies, a group of mostly white women were asked to look at images of average or slightly overweight women.

The women were told that men found the individuals in overweight pictures attractive. They were then asked to rate their own weight and reported high satisfaction with themselves.

Other women were shown pictures of very thin women and told men preferred them. Lower weight satisfaction was reported.

"Telling women that men prefer women with body sizes larger than the thin-ideal can have immediate positive effects on women's body image [but] it is unclear how long these effects may last," social psychologist Andrea Meltzer said.

"It would likely take repeated exposure to images of larger-bodied women ostensibly desired by men to strongly rival the patterns of reinforcement that are so pervasive in the media."