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Self-objectification and Well-being: The Impact of Self-objectification on Women’s Overall Sense of Self-worth and Life Satisfaction
Abstract
Research on objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts in Psychology of Women Quarterly 21:173–206, 1997) has demonstrated
relations among self-objectification, body shame, and negative health outcomes. Less research has focused on the relation
of self-objectification to indicators of well-being. We examined associations among self-objectification, body shame, and
two indicators of well-being (i.e., self-esteem and satisfaction with life) in a path analytic model. We also tested explicitly
whether body shame mediated the relation between self-objectification and self-esteem and whether self-esteem mediated the
relation between body shame and life satisfaction. Female undergraduates (N = 227) from the United States completed questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Results indicated that the proposed
model fit the data and that body shame and self-esteem mediated as predicted. Implications of these findings are discussed.
... Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) and colleagues (Fredrickson et al., , 2011 theorized that objectification and sexualization, whether experienced interpersonally or established as self-objectification, leads to multiple negative outcomes. Most relevant here is the impact on women's psychological well-being, such as increased anxiety (Adams et al., 2017) and depression (Ching et al., 2021), and lower self-esteem (Mercurio & Landry, 2008). ...
... Both anxiety disorders and anxiety symptomatology increase across the lifespan, and there are several vulnerable subgroups in adulthood, especially those with cognitive impairment and their caregivers (Remes et al., 2016). Sexual objectification experiences and self-objectification negatively impact young adult women's subjective well-being (Breines et al., 2008;Koval et al., 2019;Mercurio & Landry, 2008), including depressive symptoms (Calogero, 2012;Jones & Griffiths, 2015) and depressed mood (Tiggemann & Williams, 2012). In the process of comparing their bodies to social ideals, women may feel greater body shame (Chen & Russo, 2010) and appearance anxiety (Szymanski & Henning, 2007), which then lead to greater depressed mood (Chen & Russo, 2010;Woodward et al., 2019). ...
Objectives:
Sexual objectification is related to negative outcomes for young adult women, but whether sexual objectification operates similarly for women in mid-life or older adulthood is less clear. Our aim was to assess self-objectification and sexually objectifying experiences for women in two different age groups, 18-27 and 48-90 and, further, test the relationship between objectification and psychological functioning. Based on objectification theory, we hypothesized that young adults would report higher self-objectification and sexually objectifying experiences compared to women in the older group. We further expected that these age differences would be related to body esteem and psychological functioning.
Methods:
We surveyed 218 women regarding their sexually objectifying experiences and self-objectification, as well as body esteem, global self-esteem, and mood/anxiety, all outcomes theoretically expected to be related to sexual objectification and self-objectification.
Results:
Sexually objectifying experiences and self-objectification were correlated with lower body esteem, lower global self-esteem, and higher mood/anxiety symptoms. Further, older women reported lower objectification and better psychological functioning. Tests of serial mediation showed that the relationship between age and two outcomes (self-esteem and mood/anxiety symptoms) was mediated by self-objectification and body esteem, while the model using experiences of sexually objectifying experiences was not supported.
Conclusion:
Older women differed from younger women in the impact of self-objectification. We discuss these outcomes referencing age patterns and objectification theory.
... Choma et al.(2009) discovered a negative relationship between self-objectification and subjective well-being, and that the harmful effects of increased self-objectification not only cause negative experiences such as depression and body dissatisfaction but also have an impact on life evaluations including the sense of satisfaction and emotional reactions in women's lives. According to the study by Mercurio & Landry (2008), self-objectification leads to decreased well-being, and self-objectification has negative correlations with subjective well-being indicators: self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Breines et al. (2008) stated in their study that an individual's experience of objectifying their own body accompanies a decrease in well-being. ...
... Many studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between Objectification Theory variables and psychological well-being indicators. For example, self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame were found to be negatively related to individuals' self-esteem and psychological health-promoting behaviors (Aubrey, 2006;Fiissel & Lafreniere, 2006;Breines et al., 2008;Mercurio & Landry, 2008;Choma et al. al., 2010;Impett et al., 2011;Barzoki et al., 2018;Guo & Wu, 2021;Garcia et al., 2021). All of these studies show that self-objectification has a negative effect on individuals' well-being. ...
The ideals of beauty and appearance imposed by today’s popular society are becoming increasingly important in all stages of life. Correspondingly, research on the concepts of self-objectification, appearance anxiety, body image, and well-being has increased in recent years. Hence, this study aims to investigate whether social appearance anxiety and body image mediate the relation between self-objectification and subjective well-being in a Turkish sample. The study included 480 participants between the ages of 18 and 30. Participants were assessed using measurement tools for self-objectification, social appearance anxiety, body image, and subjective well-being. According to the serial mediation analysis, self-objectification had a negative effect on subjective well-being that was statistically significant. Additionally, it was concluded that social appearance anxiety and body image play a mediating role in the relationship between self-objectification and subjective well-being. It can be argued that the results obtained have both theoretical and practical importance for the related literature.
Keywords: Self-objectification, subjective well-being, social appearance anxiety, body image, young adults.
... However, in recent years, there has been a shift towards considering self-objectification as an independent variable, exploring its impact on individuals' psychological, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes (Kahalon et al., 2018;Mercurio & Landry, 2008). Psychologically, self-objectification often leads to heightened body image anxiety, diminished self-esteem, and a range of mental health challenges, like depression (Calogero et al., 2014). ...
Self‐objectification, the tendency to perceive oneself predominantly through the lens of physical appearance, has been a focal point of study in psychology and mental health fields. Yet, its intersection with marketing and consumer behavior remains underexplored. This study endeavors to fill this gap, unveiling self‐objectification as a novel driver behind the consumption of appearance‐related luxury goods. Such a tendency is hypothesized to arise from the heightened self‐presentation motivation prevalent among those exhibiting self‐objectification. Through three empirical experiments, we validate this connection, emphasizing a strong association between self‐objectification tendencies and luxury consumption, especially for appearance‐related products, with self‐presentation motivation mediating this relationship. Theoretically, our study integrates self‐objectification into the marketing area, linking it to consumer behaviors and enriching the prevailing literature while indicating directions for future research. From a practical perspective, our results offer important insights for luxury brand management. Moreover, by clarifying the impact of self‐objectification on purchasing behaviors, we aim to promote more informed consumer decision‐making.
... However, it is possible that greater trait NA underlies this process. For example, posting self-objectifying images on SM was associated with receiving more likes on this type of content and greater trait self-objectification (Bell et al., 2018), which is associated with poor well-being (Mercurio & Landry, 2008;Tiggemann, 2011). Because people presumably engage in imagebased SMU to look good and feel better about themselves, when people engage in image-based SMU, they may feel more PA in the moment. ...
Research on how social media use (SMU) is associated with emotion is equivocal, possibly because the factor structure of SMU had not been adequately identified. Prior research has found support for four SMU types: belief-based (e.g., sharing opinions), comparison-based (e.g., body comparison), image-based (e.g., monitoring likes), and consumption-based (e.g., watching videos). In this study, we examined how participants’ weekly engagement in each SMU type was associated with trait affect and how engagement in each type in real time was related to changes in momentary affect (preregistered: https://osf.io/qupf3/). A total of 382 college students in the spring of 2022 reported on the extent to which they engaged in each SMU type over the last week and their trait affect. They also engaged in each SMU type (randomized) for 3 min, rating their affect before and after. Only comparison-based SMU showed the same pattern of associations at trait and momentary levels, being associated with lower positive affect and higher negative affect (NA) at both timescales. Image- and consumption-based SMU were associated with higher trait NA, but resulted in people feeling better in real time. Belief-based SMU was associated with higher trait positive affect and NA, but made people feel worse in real time. Understanding how SMU types are associated with emotional experiences depends on the timeframe. Findings hold important implications for research examining how SMU is associated with mental health and well-being.
... Self-objectification among women is associated with various detrimental psychological and behavioral outcomes, including low selfesteem (Veldhuis et al., 2020), disordered eating behavior (Noll & Fredrickson, 1998;Tiggemann & Williams, 2012), reduced life satisfaction (Mercurio & Landry, 2008), and hindered personal growth . With the prevalence of social media, an increasing number of studies have explored how self-objectification affects women's selfie-related behaviors (Boursier, Gioia, & Griffiths, 2020;Fox et al., 2021;Kim & Chock, 2017). ...
(To access the full article, click on https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563224000827?dgcid=author)
Although the relationship between self-objectification and selfie-related behaviors has been extensively investigated, limited attention has been given to understanding how women's self-objectification impacts their attitudes toward peer selfies from the observer's perspective. This issue was addressed across four studies (N = 801). Specifically, Studies 1a and 1b (correlational research) revealed a positive association between women's self-objectification and hostile attitudes toward peer selfies. In Studies 2 and 3 (experimental research), a causal relationship was established, such that women with higher levels of state self-objectification were more inclined to attach negative tags to other women's selfies. Notably, perceived attention-seeking motivation plays a mediating role in the process (Studies 1b, 2, and 3). Furthermore, these effects occurred not only in response to selfies taken by highly attractive women but also in response to targets who are moderately attractive or average-looking (Study 3). These findings bridge a significant gap in the field of self-objectification and social interaction on social media.
... Finally, our results indicate that self-objectification is associated with factors that are problematic for one's health and well-being, that is, negative affect and substance use (Felner et al., 2020;Mereish, 2019), partly via appearance anxiety in the case of negative affect. This study extends previous research (e.g., Breines et al., 2008;Choma et al., 2009;Mercurio & Landry, 2008;Sinclair & Myers, 2004) by demonstrating that the relationship between selfobjectification and well-being is not only evident among heterosexual women, but also among a diverse group of people of various sexual orientations and gender identities. Future research should be more inclusive of trans and intersex people and consider additional outcomes that are known to be associated with self-objectification such as eating disorders and sexual dysfunction and be attenuated to additional factors that might be unique for sexual and/or gender minorities. ...
Objectification theory proposes that women self-objectify as a result of internalizing the male gaze on their bodies. In this case, additional groups that are attracted to men (e.g., gay men and bi/pansexual people) should also present higher levels of self-objectification than those that are not (e.g., lesbian women, heterosexual men, and nonbinary people not attracted to men). We tested this prediction using a large sample of Swiss heterosexual and sexual minority individuals (n = 2,770). We also extended previous work on objectification theory by systematically exploring the association of self-objectification with outcomes especially prevalent among sexual minority people, namely negative affect and substance use, and tested whether appearance anxiety mediates these associations. The present study found support for the male gaze hypothesis. People with sexual orientations that reflect attraction toward men, or toward men and other genders, reported higher levels of self-objectification. Self-objectification was also associated with negative affect through appearance anxiety, and directly associated with substance use. We conclude that people with sexual orientations that reflect attraction toward men, or toward men and other genders, are at higher risk of self-objectification and its negative effects.
... For example, certain situations accentuating awareness of observers' perspectives on women's bodies, such as ballet dancing, beauty pageants, modeling, and cheerleading, are likely to enhance sexual objectification (Slater & Tiggemann, 2002). Furthermore, self-objectification is related to broader psychosocial constructs, including poorer self-esteem, lower life satisfaction, less relationship satisfaction, lower levels of global well-being, risk-taking, self-harm, and negative attitudes toward breastfeeding (Breines, Crocker, & Garcia, 2008;Harper & Tiggemann, 2008;Mercurio & Landry, 2008;Moradi & Huang, 2008). ...
This study aims to describe how Lasmi, a Tayub dancer Legend from Grobogan (an area near the North Kendeng Mountains) experiences others in various aspects of her life, especially when she lives in the art stage. The author uses the in-depth interview method in addition to supporting documents such as previous research, YouTube channels, news, and interviews with supporting sources by absorbing awareness of gender-based insights and feminism. The author borrows the theory of Liyan or subaltern/ the others from Gayatri Spivak and De Beauvoir which describes how women live and grow with the experience as the other group or not the main one. The research subject is Lasmi, who had her heyday in the 1980s to early 2000s. Lasmi is an example of an Indonesian postcolonial body, which means a body who does not come from a center of power, and does not come from the center of the metropolitan modern arts of its time. A body like this experiences otherness and marginalization in society and always becomes an object, especially from a male point of view or male gaze. The body of the other is always close to experiencing problems, being number two, and always being compared to others. In her life, Lasmi was experienced as the other in both public and domestic areas. Serving the public area when she was working as Waranggana Tayub was required to please many people, did not have full rights over his body, did not have enough time to rest, did not have maternity rest was adored if she was beautiful, and was bullied if she was ugly. Even so, she also experienced the others or subalterns in the domestic area. She is also a breadwinner and must also be demanded to be perfect in the house. She experienced domestic violence, was physically exhausted, and did not have full control over the money she earned. Even though she had experienced her heyday, in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic she was also included in a marginal group that was highly trained, due to the PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions) so she could no longer dance and performed as she used to be. She has also suffered from an age devaluation, which has resulted in her being rarely invited for performing arts, and losing out to the young waranggana. Keywords: Gender, Feminism, Liyan, The Other, Subaltern, Kendeng, Tayub, Grobogan, COVID-19, Postcolonial Feminism
In dieser Thesis wurde die Beziehung zwischen der Nutzung der Dating-App Tinder, dem Selbstwert und dem Grad der Selbstobjektifizierung mittels quantitativer Forschungsmethoden untersucht. Basierend auf Interaktions- und Medienforschungstheorien sowie Kenntnissen zu Online Dating und den Konstrukten Selbstwert und Selbstobjektifizierung wurden Hypothesen formuliert. Erwartet wurde ein niedrigeres Level an Selbstwert und ein höheres Niveau an Selbstobjektifizierung von Tinder-Nutzer*innen bzw. Viel-Nutzer*innen im Gegensatz zu Nicht- bzw. Wenig-Nutzer*innen der Applikation. Zudem wurde von einer durch Selbstobjektifizierung mediierten Beziehung zwischen Tindernutzung und Selbstwert ausgegangen. Es wurden 232 Personen, bestehend aus 92 Tinder-Nutzer*innen und 140 Nicht-Nutzer*innen, anhand eines standardisierten Fragebogens befragt. Die Hypothesen wurden mittels dem Zwei-Stichproben-t-Test, der Spearmans Rangkorrelation, der ANOVA und einer Mediations- bzw. Regressionsanalyse überprüft. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie deuten darauf hin, dass keinerlei negative Beziehung zwischen dem Trait-Selbstwert und Tindernutzung besteht. Darüber hinaus konnte kein signifikanter Unterschied im Grad der Selbstobjektifizierung zwischen Tindernutzer*innen und Nicht-Nutzer*innen beobachtet werden. Jedoch war ein signifikanter positiver Zusammenhang zwischen monatlicher Nutzung und Selbstobjektifizierung festzustellen. Durch Post-hoc-Regressions-Analysen konnte die positive Beziehung zwischen monatlicher Nutzung und Selbstobjektifizierung nach Kontrolle der Variablen Alter und Geschlecht weiterhin bestätigt werden. Die Analysen zum Zusammenhang zwischen Selbstwert und Tindernutzung blieben wie bisher nicht signifikant. Angesichts der Limitationen bedarf es hierbei weiterer Forschung. An der pädagogischen Praxis ist es, die Medienkompetenz im Allgemeinen und die Online-Dating-Kompetenz im Speziellen zu fördern, um einen verantwortungsvollen und reflektierten Umgang zu ermöglichen.
Surveillance is an increasingly prevalent feature of daily life and is carried out for a range of purposes across different settings. Although experiencing some form of surveillance is very common, it is necessary to examine differences in how surveillance is implemented, for what purposes, and how it is experienced, and to consider how those differences can reflect, and at times reinforce, power dynamics and imbalances within society. Even in situations where the primary purpose of surveillance is not the exercise of power, or when surveillance is applied broadly, irrespective of gender, surveillance practices can still further existing gendered power dynamics because of how they are implemented or experienced. This chapter examines social and psychological issues raised by the interaction between surveillance practices and gendered power imbalances in society, first reviewing theoretical perspectives from psychology and surveillance studies, then applying these perspectives to consider how surveillance practices interact with gender and power across different contexts, including prison, public benefits, pregnancy, and social media. We conclude by identifying theoretical considerations for scholarship that bridges feminist psychology and surveillance studies.
Self esteem has become a household word. Teachers, parents, therapists, and others have focused efforts on boosting self-esteem, on the assumption that high self-esteem will cause many positive outcomes and benefits-an assumption that is critically evaluated in this review. Appraisal of the effects of self-esteem is complicated by several factors. Because many people with high self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits, we emphasize objective measures of outcomes. High self-esteem is also a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals. The modest correlations between self-esteem and school performance do not indicate that high self-esteem leads to good performance. Instead, high self-esteem is partly the result of good school performance. Efforts to boost the self-esteem of pupils have not been shown to improve academic performance and may sometimes be counterproductive. Job performance in adults is sometimes related to self-esteem, although the correlations, vary widely, and the direction of causality has not been established. Occupational success may boost self-esteem rather than the reverse. Alternatively, self-esteem may be helpful only in some job contexts. Laboratory studies have generally failed to find that self-esteem causes good task performance, with the important exception that high self-esteem facilitates persistence after failure. People high in self-esteem claim to be more likable and attractive, to have better relationships, and to make better impressions on others than people with low self-esteem, but objective measures disconfirm most of these beliefs. Narcissists are charming at first but tend to alienate others eventually. Self-esteem has not been shown to predict the quality or duration of relationships. High self-esteem makes people more willing to speak up in groups and to criticize the group's approach. Leadership does not stem directly from self-esteem, but self-esteem may have indirect effects. Relative, to people with low self-esteem, those with high self-esteem show stronger in-group favoritism, which may increase prejudice and discrimination. Neither high nor low self-esteem is a direct cause, of violence. Narcissism leads,to increased aggression in retaliation, for wounded pride. Low self-esteem may contribute to externalizing behavior and delinquency, although some studies have found that there are no effects or that the effect of self-esteem vanishes when other variables are controlled. The highest and. lowest rates of cheating and bullying are found in different subcategories of high self-esteem. Self-esteem has a strong relation to happiness. Although the research has not clearly established causation, we are persuaded that high self-esteem does lead to greater happiness., Low self-esteem is more likely than high to lead to depression under some circumstances. Some studies support the buffer hypothesis, which is that high self-esteem mitigates the effects of stress, but other studies come to the opposite conclusion, indicating that I the negative effects of low self-esteem are, mainly felt in good times. Still others find that high self-esteem leads to happier outcomes regardless of stress or other circumstances. High self-esteem does not prevent children from smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or engaging in early sex. If anything high self-esteem fosters experimentation, which may increase early sexual activity or drinking, but in general effects of self-esteem are negligible. One important exception is that high self-esteem reduces the chances of bulimia in females. Overall, the benefits of high self-esteem fall into two categories: enhanced initiative and pleasant feelings. We have not found evidence that boosting self-esteem (by therapeutic, interventions or school programs) causes benefits. Our findings do not support continued widespread efforts to boost self-esteem in the hope that it will by itself foster improved outcomes. In view of the heterogeneity of high self-esteem, indiscriminate praise might just as easily promote narcissism, with its less desirable consequences. Instead, we recommend using praise to boost self-esteem as a reward for socially desirable behavior and self-improvement.
Hypotheses about age-related differences in objectified body consciousness (OBC; McKinley & Hyde, 1996) based on the cultural, developmental, and familial contexts of women's body experience were tested on 151 undergraduate women and their middle-aged mothers. Mothers had lower levels of surveillance (watching the body as an outside observer) and body shame (feeling one is a bad person when appearance does not meet cultural standards) than daughters. No differences were found in appearance control beliefs, body esteem, or restricted eating, even though mothers weighed more and were less satisfied with their weight than daughters. OBC was related to measures of psychological well-being in both age groups; body esteem was more strongly related to some measures of daughters' psychological well-being than mothers'. Relationships of partner and family approval and OBC and body esteem were also examined.
This article offers objectification theory as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states. Accumulations of such experiences may help account for an array of mental health risks that disproportionately affect women: unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. Objectification theory also illuminates why changes in these mental health risks appear to occur in step with life-course changes in the female body.
This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
Objectified body consciousness theory provides a framework for understanding young women's negative body experiences and their impact on well-being. This study examined the impact of body surveillance, body shame, and appearance control beliefs, the 3 components of objectified body consciousness, on wellness in college women. Data indicated a negative relationship between body surveillance and body shame and several components of wellness and a positive relationship between appearance control beliefs and aspects of wellness. Implications are examined.
The SWLS consists of 5-items that require a ratingon a 7-point Likert scale. Administration is rarely morethan a minute or 2 and can be completed by interview(including phone) or paper and pencil response. The in-strumentshouldnotbecompletedbyaproxyansweringfortheperson.Itemsofthe SWLSaresummedtocreatea total score that can range from 5 to 35.The SWLS is in the public domain. Permission isnot needed to use it. Further information regardingthe use and interpretation of the SWLS can be foundat the author’s Web site http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/∼ediener/SWLS.html. The Web site alsoincludes links to translations of the scale into 27languages.