Testing An Extension Of Objectification Theory As Applied To Sexual Functioning

Download or read book Testing an Extension of Objectification Theory as Applied to Sexual Functioning written by Elizabeth Anne Lehman and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) is a theoretically and empirically grounded framework used to describe the ways that sexual objectification in the social environment becomes internalized by women, and filters into psychological consequences and mental health risks for them in their personal lives. Of the three main mental health risks that are purported to emerge as outcomes in the model (eating disorder symptomology, depressive symptomology, and sexual dysfunction), sexual dysfunction has been least researched. The current study grew from a need to more fully explore the ways that self-objectification relates to women's sexual experiences in multiple domains of functioning. The current study expanded upon previous research by testing a model of Objectification Theory that focused on sexual experiences and included three new, potentially influential variables: sexual self-consciousness, sexual assertiveness, and relationship status. The construct of sexual functioning was explored via a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the Female Sexual Functioning Inventory (Rosen et al., 2000) and operationalized in terms of six outcomes: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. Participants included women gathered from undergraduate psychology classes at a large midwestern university, as well as women recruited from social media. The makeup of the sample was a group of primarily White women who identified as heterosexual and had experienced some form of sexual activity in their lifetime. Path analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized relations between the following variables: self-objectification, body shame, appearance anxiety, sexual self-consciousness, sexual assertiveness, relationship status, and the six sexual functioning outcomes. Results indicated that the hypothesized model fit the data well, and most hypothesized relationships were supported. One relationship that was not supported by the model was relationship status's role as a covariate in sexual self-consciousness. Results provide evidence for the mediating roles of sexual self-consciousness (full) and sexual assertiveness (partial) in the relationships of body shame and appearance anxiety with most domains of sexual functioning. The findings provide support the inclusion of sexual self-consciousness and sexual assertiveness in future models of Objectification Theory as applied to sexual functioning. Future research ought to focus on the replication of results with a more diverse sample of women, and on exploration into a more detailed definition of relationship status in order to capture its contribution to the constructs of interest.