Our neighbor asked me to assist him in summarizing a scientific paper from a journal of psychology relating to “Body Objectification”. You might be interested in skimming the summary of the study (lol what a screwed up society we live in, and how much “science” it takes to figure that out!).

Summary

Article: “The Role of Body Objectification in Disordered Eating and Depressed Mood”
Authors: Marika Tiggemann and Julia K. Kuring (School of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia)
Journal: British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2004, No. 43, pg.s 299 – 311

Study Summary

- Objectives: To test “Objectification Theory” related to psychological depression as well as to study any applications of it to men.
- Design: Cross-sectional study of general population.
- Method: 115 men and 171 women completed questionnaires measuring “self-objectification”, depressed moods, eating disorders, “body shame”, “appearance anxiety”, “flow”, and “awareness of internal states”.
- Results: For women depressed mood and eating disorders could be predicted by “self-objectification” and “self-surveillance”. Men showed
similar relationship patterns to women but did not generally exhibit “self-objectification”.
- Conclusion: “Objectification Theory” is useful in providing tools to predict mood depression and eating disorders.

Purpose of Study

Feminist theory has often claimed that societies which primarily view women as sexual objects result in many psychological and social problems for women in particular and society in general. However, through scientific research we can empirically confirm or disprove these claims. Indeed there is mounting scientific data to confirm that in a society in which women are “objectified”, women tend to become overly critical of their physical appearances, trying to achieve ideals which may not be possible for them to achieve. This leads to constant self-analysis, depression, passivity and/or victimization in relationships, and sexual dysfunction.
This study intends to cover a few specific areas in the study of “Body Objectification” which have not been addressed before, namely its relation to depression, eating disorders, and gender differences.

Study Components

Self-Objectification

Based on the Self-Objectification Questionnaire developed by Noll and Frederickson, the participants were asked to rate which physical qualities were most important to them in terms of their self-image. Five qualities encompassed health (strength, energy, etc.) while five addressed superficial appearance (weight, sex appeal, etc.). The higher a person scored (up to +25) the more emphasis they placed upon physical appearances and this indicated a higher level of “self objectification”.

Self-Surveillance

This portion of the study was assessed through the body surveillance subscale of McKinley and Hyde’s Objectified Body Consciousness Scale. Self surveillance refers to the amount of emphasis a person places upon thinking about their appearance in trying to conform to social standards of beauty or perfection. The higher the score, the higher the indication of self-surveillance.

Body Shame

This portion was also taken from McKinley and Hyde, utilizing the subscale of body shame. Body shame refers to how much impact negative social norms have on a person’s likelihood of feeling ashamed of their own body. Again, the higher the score, the more likely the participant felt ashamed of their physical appearance.

Appearance Anxiety

“Appearance Anxiety” refers to the fact that people feel nervous or pressured about the way they look. It was measured using the short form of Dion, Dion, and Keelan’s Appearance Anxiety Scale.

Flow

Flow was measured by the Flow State Scale developed by Jackson and Marsh. It gauges how a person tends to operate. People with higher flow states focus more on their tasks at hand and tend not to be self-conscious, inhibited, or distracted by external factors (most notably being conscious of oneself in relation to others and one’s physical appearance). People with lower flow states are constantly measuring themselves and therefore more involved in the social situation than in the mental tasks before them.

Awareness of Internal Bodily States

This was measured by the “private body consciousness” subscale of the Body Consciousness Scale developed by Miller, Murphy, and Buss. Awareness of internal bodily states indicates how aware a person is of their own body, not on a superficial level, but at the levels of sensation and function.

Disordered Eating

3 behavioral subscales: drive for thinness, bulimia, and body dissatisfaction, were used to measure propensity for eating disorders. This scale was taken from Garner, Olmsted, and Polivy’s EDI (Eating Disorder Inventory). The higher the score, the higher the participant’s susceptibility for eating disorders.

Depressed Mood

Using the BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), the study measured loss of pleasure in activities, psychosomatic disorders, and somatic complaints. The scores represented how the participants felt at the time of the study, higher scores indicating depressed moods.

Table of Findings (optional)

(attach tables here)

Conclusions

In general, women tend to score higher in self-objectification and self-surveillance, as well as the mediators of body shame and appearance anxiety, thus fulfilling the expected outcome of these traits correlating with disordered eating. Flow and depressed mood seemed independent of gender. However, women tended to be better at gauging internal states than men, most likely due to the propensity of women towards general sensitivity.
In studying the correlations between individual traits and resultant pathways of behavior, while women tended to score high on all these traits correlating to depression and disordered eating, men only scored significantly high on body shame and appearance anxiety in relation to the 2 correlated states. One should also note only self-surveillance correlated to disordered eating while self-objectification and self-surveillance did not correlate to depression. Disordered eating and depressed mood were intercorrelated for both men and women, but when partial correlations were tested, it was shown that self-objectification accounted for the variance between disordered eating and depressed mood.
Finally, the data was tested for causality and prediction. It was shown some of the pathways were insignificant and thus could be eliminated as indicating causality or being useful indicators. It was shown that for women, self-objectification leads to self-surveillance, which leads to body shame, appearance anxiety, and decreased flow. Body shame and appearance anxiety could both predict disordered eating and depressed mood. For men, flow tends to predict depressed mood. There is also a significant negative direct pathway between self-objectification and body shame, indicating men tended to give importance to competence-based physical attributes rather than superficial ones. Therefore, men’s marginal focus on muscularity, etc. is not a parallel for the overwhelming sexual objectification that women receive in society. Yet it is proposed that some questionnaires be developed in gender-neutral language so that any differences in perspective can be eliminated. One should note that there is no direct pathway between self-objectification or surveillance to disordered eating and depressed mood, rather, they are mediated states.
Overall, since it is clear that our social norms are causing mental and physical issues for both men and women, it is hoped that even if society cannot immediately remedy the constant obsessions and standards of physical attractiveness, there can be some specific remedies introduced to view the body in more holistic terms than superficial ones alone.

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