Americans spend billions of dollars each year trying to change their weight with diets, gym memberships and plastic surgery.

    Trying to live up to the images of “perfect” models and movie heroes has a dark side: anxiety, depression, as well as unhealthy strategies for weight loss or muscle gain. It also has a financial cost. Having an eating disorder boosts annual health care costs by nearly US$2,000 per person.

    Why is there both external and internal pressure to look “perfect”? One reason is that society rewards people who are thin and healthy-looking. Researchers have shown that body mass index is related to wages and income. Especially for women, there is a clear penalty at work for being overweight or obese. Some studies have also found an impact for men, though a less noticeable one.

    While the research literature is clear that labor market success is partly based on how employers and customers perceive your body image, no one had explored the other side of the question. Does a person’s own perception of body image matter to earnings and other indicators of success in the workplace?

    Our recently published study answered this question by tracking a large national random sample of Americans over a critical time period when bodies change from teenage shape into adult form and when people build their identities.

    As in other research, women in our sample tend to over-perceive weight—they think they’re heavier than they are—while men tend to under-perceive theirs.

    We found no relationship between the average person’s self-perception of weight and labor market outcomes, although self-perceived weight can influence self-esteem (自尊心), mental health and health behaviors. 

    While the continued gender penalty in the labor market is frustrating, our finding that misperceived weight does not harm workers is more heartening.

    Since employers’ perception of weight is what matters in the labor market, changing discrimination laws to include body type as a category would help. Michigan is the only state that prohibits discrimination on the basis of weight and height. We believe expanding such protections would make the labor market more fair and efficient.

解析：B。原文中的第五至八段都与作者最近的研究有关，其中第七、八段阐述了研究的结果。原文第八段后半部分提到，研究发现，劳动者对自身体重的错误认知并不会对他们造成伤害。B项是对此内容的同义转述，其中B项的not adversely affected对应定位句中的does not harm，in the workplace对应定位句中的workers，false self-perception of body weight对应定位句中的misperceived weight，故B项为正确答案。

错项排除：原文中虽然提到了overweight（超重），但只是说其他的研究指出超重对职业会有影响，并没有讨论超重对于员工整体身心健康的危害，故A项排除。C项利用第七段中出现的self-esteem和第八段中的gender设置干扰，但原文只是说对体重的自我认知会影响到一个人的自尊水平，并没有讨论自尊与性别不平等之间是否有关系，故C项排除。原文第八段开头提到，劳动力市场上的女性仍然会处于性别劣势，这仍然令人沮丧，但这只是在陈述客观现象，并不是作者最近研究的发现，故D项排除。