Immagine corporea in gravidanza: il ruolo della mindfulness [Body image during pregnancy: the role of mindfulness]

Introduction. During pregnancy women seem to experience high levels of body dissatisfaction due to the bodily changes that occur during this period and that make the intention to undergo cosmetic surgery more likely. However, these procedures do not always improve body dissatisfaction. In this regard, mindfulness seems to play an important protective role against dissatisfaction with one's body. Aims and Methods. The present study aims to analyze whether the five facets of mindfulness (i.e., observing; describing; acting with awareness; nonjudging; nonreactivity) predict the interest in undergoing cosmetic surgery during pregnancy through the mediation of body dissatisfaction. Participants were 225 pregnant women (mean age = 34 years; SD = 5.12) who completed a questionnaire containing the Italian versions of the Pregnancy Body Image scale (PBI; Brown et al., 2014), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer et al., 2006), the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 2005). The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the dimensionality of the Italian version of the PBI. Results. The EFA showed a unifactorial structure and a good reliability of the PBI. The facet of nonjudging predicted body dissatisfaction, consideration of cosmetic surgery, and its acceptance for social reasons. Nonreactivity predicted acceptance of cosmetic surgery for both social and intrapersonal reasons. Acting with awareness predicted acceptance of cosmetic surgery for intrapersonal reasons only. Body dissatisfaction mediated the relationship between nonjudging and both consideration and acceptance of cosmetic surgery for social reasons. Conclusions. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing mindfulness skills should not consider this construct as one-dimensional but should be differentiated according to its different facets. Specifically, enhancing nonjudging in pregnant women seems to be relevant in order to reduce body dissatisfaction and interest in cosmetic surgery in this group.