Young Adults’ Body Image and Interpersonal Needs, and How It Influences Their Sexual Attitude and Mental Health

Attitude towards one’s body image, nature of interpersonal needs are intricately associated with attitude towards sexuality and mental health amongst young adults. The present study attempts to find inter-group differences and associations between body image, interpersonal needs, attitude towards sex, and psychiatric morbidity. The sample consists of individuals belonging to the age groups of 19-25 years and 29-34 years. There are 168 participants out of which 87 belong to the age group of 19-25 years (Females = 46, Males = 41) and 81 belong to the age group of 29-34 years (Females = 45, Males = 36). The tools used in the study are General Health Questionnaire- 12 (Goldberg and Hiller, 1979), Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire- Appearance Scale (Cash, 2000), Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior Scale (Schutz, 2000) and Sexual Attitude Scale (Abraham, 1997). Two-Way ANOVA is employed to see age and sex differences, and Pearson correlation is used to check the association between variables. The emerging adult group is more invested in their appearance while the older age group has greater body area satisfaction. Females are found to be more invested in their physical appearance than males, while males have a greater body area satisfaction. The younger age group has a more favorable attitude towards sex. Associations between the different variables have also been discussed.