Objectification Among College Women in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

This study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) and objectification. Specifically, the associations between psychological and physical abuse and self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame for college women were considered through the lens of objectification theory. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, bivariate correlations showed that more psychological abuse was associated with more self-objectification, more body surveillance, and more body shame. As well, more physical abuse was associated with more body surveillance and more body shame. However, when the unique effects of psychological and physical abuse were considered in a path model, the links between psychological abuse and objectification remained while the links between physical abuse and objectification became nonsignificant. In addition, consistent with Hypothesis 2 and the model proposed by objectification theory, body surveillance and the combined effect of self-objectification and body surveillance explained relations between psychological abuse and body shame. This work fills an important gap in the current literature because it is the only study to date that examines relations between both psychological and physical abuse and self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame. Implications and future directions are discussed.