Differences in the relationships between Interoceptive Sensibility and Self-Objectification in women with high and low Body Dissatisfaction: A Network Analysis

Purpose: Body dissatisfaction is a normative experience with the potential to impact women’s mental and physical health. It is closely related to self-objectification, where the body is viewed as an object for aesthetic evaluation rather than for its functional attributes. Self-objectification not only affects women's body image but is associated with diminished subjective awareness of, and attention towards, internal bodily states (i.e., interoceptive sensibility).Methods: This study uses network analysis and network comparison to investigate the relationships between features of interoceptive sensibility and self-objectification in women with high (N=348) and low (N=354) body dissatisfaction. Results: The results revealed significant differences in the connections between interoceptive sensibility and self-objectification in women with high and low body dissatisfaction (p = 0.026). High body dissatisfaction was driven by lower levels of body listening, self-regulation, and not feeling safe in one’s body (body trusting), whereas high emotional awareness was most central to women with low body dissatisfaction. Conclusions: This study highlights the central role of interoceptive sensibility in body dissatisfaction and identifies key features of interoceptive sensibility to target for improving body dissatisfaction.