Self-objectification and eating disorder pathology in an ethnically diverse sample of adult women: cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal associations

Lisa Smith Kilpela,Carolyn Black Becker,Salomé A Wilfred,Rachel Calogero,Willie J Hale,Christina L Verzijl

doi:10.1186/s40337-019-0273-z

Abstract

BackgroundExtensive support exists for objectification theory’s original aim of explaining patterns of women’s mental health risk through a sociocultural lens. One pathway in objectification theory proposes a mediational role of body shame in the relationship between self-objectification and eating disorder (ED) pathology. Robust past cross-sectional research supports this proposed pathway, but largely in non-Hispanic Caucasian, college-aged samples; this pathway has yet to be empirically demonstrated longitudinally. Given previously documented concerns regarding direct measurement of body shame, we tested two measures of body shame as mediators in both cross-sectional and longitudinal models in a diverse sample of adult women.MethodUtilizing snowball sampling via email, we recruited age and racially/ethnically diverse women predominantly within the United States. Participants completed online surveys assessing self-objectification (operationalized as body surveillance), body shame, and ED pathology at baseline, 3-months and 6-months.ResultsRacial/ethnic minority (n = 139) and non-Hispanic Caucasian (n = 181) adult women completed the measures. Cross-sectional moderated mediation models indicated that racial/ethnic status did not moderate relationships, and that body shame significantly mediated the relation between body surveillance and ED pathology at each time point. The longitudinal model, analyzed using cross-lagged panel analyses, was nonsignificant, as body surveillance failed to predict future body shame when controlling for past body shame.ConclusionsRacial/ethnic status did not moderate relations at any time point. Cross-sectional findings replicated past research; the longitudinal model did not support a core mediation pathway linking self-objectification to ED pathology through body shame. Because self-objectification putatively develops earlier in life, future research also should examine these relations in younger diverse samples over a longer time period.

Highlights

Extensive support exists for objectification theory’s original aim of explaining patterns of women’s mental health risk through a sociocultural lens
Cross-sectional moderated mediation models indicated that racial/ethnic status did not moderate relationships, and that body shame significantly mediated the relation between body surveillance and eating disorder (ED) pathology at each time point
Cross-sectional findings replicated past research; the longitudinal model did not support a core mediation pathway linking self-objectification to ED pathology through body shame

Summary

Introduction

Extensive support exists for objectification theory’s original aim of explaining patterns of women’s mental health risk through a sociocultural lens. Objectification theory [1] postulates that recurrent encounters of sexual objectification in Western societies condition girls and women to incorporate the sexually-objectifying gaze of others into their own self-view. Objectification theory proposes that self-objectification creates more opportunities for poor subjective experiences (e.g., body shame, appearance anxiety), which may, in turn, increase women’s vulnerability to a number of mental health risks, including eating disorders (EDs). While some research has shown direct effects of selfobjectification on measures of disordered eating (e.g., [6]), the bulk of the research has demonstrated a robust indirect effect of self-objectification on disordered eating through body shame (e.g., [5, 10, 12,13,14,15]). Longitudinal confirmation of mediation models is important when establishing casual and temporal mediation

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Conclusion