Self-objectification and depression: an integrative systematic review

Skin tone surveillance, depression, and life satisfaction in Indian women: Colour-blind racial ideology as a moderator

Consistent with objectification theory, many studies have shown that self-objectification (and body surveillance) is associated with depression and dissatisfaction with life. Critically, however, much of this research has been conducted with White women attending university in North America. To extend this literature, we investigated whether greater skin tone surveillance - a group-specific manifestation of self-objectification among women of colour - is linked to higher depression and lower life satisfaction among Indian women. Given that some system justifying ideologies provide a protective well-being effect for lower status individuals, we considered whether colour-blind racial ideology (i.e., the minimization/denial of White privilege) weakened the relations between skin tone surveillance and poorer well-being outcomes. Data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk; participants included Indian women (N = 177) between the ages of 19-30 living in India. Participants completed measures of skin tone surveillance, colour-blind racial ideology, depression, and life satisfaction. Results revealed that skin tone surveillance was associated with higher depression (and more strongly among women higher in colour-blind racial ideology). Moreover, skin tone surveillance was associated with lower life satisfaction only among women lower in colour-blind racial ideology. Implications are discussed.

Materialism, Self-Objectification, and Capitalization of Sexual Attractiveness Increase Young Chinese Women's Willingness to Consider Cosmetic Surgery

Research reveals significant positive associations between materialism and cosmetic surgery consideration, yet little is known about why this relationship exists. To address this question, the present study examined potential mediators of the links between materialism and cosmetic surgery consideration. A sample of 336 Chinese undergraduate women completed measures of materialism, self-objectification, capitalization of sexual attractiveness, and cosmetic surgery consideration. Correlational analysis showed that materialism, self-objectification, and capitalization of sexual attractiveness were significantly positively correlated with cosmetic surgery consideration. The results of path analyses revealed that higher materialism predicted more willingness to consider cosmetic surgery, both directly and indirectly via higher self-objectification and capitalization of sexual attractiveness.

The Effects of System Justifying Beliefs on Skin-Tone Surveillance, Skin-Color Dissatisfaction, and Skin-Bleaching Behavior

In two studies with women living in India (Study 1, n = 177) and African American women in the United States (Study 2, n = 120), we investigated whether skin-tone surveillance, which theoretically is a manifestation of self-objectification, predicted greater skin-color dissatisfaction and greater skin-bleaching behavior. Given the existence of colorism in Indian and American societies, we expected that ideologies that rationalize and perpetuate the status quo would moderate the proposed relations. Results were consistent with objectification theory and system justification theory. The positive relation between skin-tone surveillance and skin-color dissatisfaction was weaker among women of color who more strongly (vs. weakly) endorsed system justifying ideologies, and the positive relation between skin-tone surveillance and skin-bleaching behavior was stronger among women of color who more strongly (vs. weakly) endorsed system justifying ideologies. Our results suggest that self-objectification theorists and researchers should consider culturally specific manifestations of self-objectification as well as protective and legitimating effects of system justifying ideologies. We encourage clinicians and policy makers to use public campaigns and individual-level interventions to target the norms and motivations underlying skin-bleaching. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index

Dysfunctional eating behaviors, anxiety, and depression in Italian boys and girls: the role of mass media

Objective:

Extensive research has implicated identification with characters in mass media in the emergence of disordered eating behavior in adolescents. We explored the possible influence of the models offered by television (TV) on adolescents’ body image, body uneasiness, eating-disordered behavior, depression, and anxiety.

Methods:

Three hundred and one adolescents (aged 14-19) from southern Italy participated. They completed a questionnaire on media exposure and body dissatisfaction, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Body Uneasiness Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Form Y.

Results:

The main factors contributing to females’ eating-disordered behaviors were their own desires to be similar to TV characters, the amount of reality and entertainment TV they watched, and the discrepancy between their perceptions of their bodies and those of TV characters. Friends’ desire to be similar to TV characters contributed most to depression, anxiety, body uneasiness, and eating disorders for both males and females.

Conclusion:

Our data confirm that extensive watching of reality and entertainment TV correlates with eating-disordered behavior among females. Moreover, the well-known negative effects of the media on adolescents’ eating-disordered behaviors may also be indirectly transmitted by friends who share identification with TV characters.

Why is depression more common among women than among men?

Women are about twice as likely as are men to develop depression during their lifetime. This Series paper summarises evidence regarding the epidemiology on gender differences in prevalence, incidence, and course of depression, and factors possibly explaining the gender gap. Gender-related subtypes of depression are suggested to exist, of which the developmental subtype has the strongest potential to contribute to the gender gap. Limited evidence exists for risk factors to be specifically linked to depression. Future research could profit from a transdiagnostic perspective, permitting the differentiation of specific susceptibilities from those predicting general psychopathologies within and across the internalising and externalising spectra. An integration of the Research Domain Criteria framework will allow examination of gender differences in core psychological functions, within the context of developmental transitions and environmental settings. Monitoring of changing socioeconomic and cultural trends in factors contributing to the gender gap will be important, as well as the influence of these trends on changes in symptom expression across psychopathologies in men and women.

"I feel free": Experiences of a dance intervention for adolescent girls with internalizing problems

Adolescent girls today suffer from internalizing problems such as somatic symptoms and mental health problems at higher rates compared to those of previous decades, and effective interventions are warranted. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of participating in an 8-month dance intervention. This qualitative study was embedded in a randomized controlled trial of a dance intervention for adolescent girls with internalizing problems. A total of 112 girls aged 13–18 were included in the study. The dance intervention group comprised 59 girls, 24 of whom were strategically chosen to be interviewed. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The experiences of the dance intervention resulted in five generic categories: (1) An Oasis from Stress, which represents the fundamental basis of the intervention; (2) Supportive Togetherness, the setting; (3) Enjoyment and Empowerment, the immediate effect; (4) Finding Acceptance and Trust in Own Ability, the outcome; and (5) Dance as Emotional Expression, the use of the intervention. One main category emerged, Finding Embodied Self-Trust That Opens New Doors, which emphasizes the increased trust in the self and the ability to approach life with a sense of freedom and openness. The central understanding of the adolescent girls’ experiences was that the dance intervention enriched and gave access to personal resources. With the non-judgmental atmosphere and supportive togetherness as a safe platform, the enjoyment and empowerment in dancing gave rise to acceptance, trust in ability, and emotional expression. Taken together, this increased self-trust and they discovered a new ability to “claim space.” Findings from this study may provide practical information on designing future interventions for adolescent girls with internalizing problems.