Does This Friend Make Me Look Fat? Appearance-Related Comparisons Within Women's Close Friendships

The present research investigated the effects of close friends on women's body image and the moderating role of comfort with intimacy. Female participants wrote about a thin or heavy close friend prior to completing implicit (Study 1) and explicit (Study 2) body image measures. Results revealed that participants who avoided intimacy experienced contrast effects, feeling worse about their bodies following exposure to thin friends. However, these effects were attenuated, and sometimes reversed, among participants comfortable with intimacy. Thus, close friends-and the comfort with intimacy within those friendships-have important implications for women's body image.