Print media exposure as a predictor of disordered eating: The role of self -objectification, body shame, and appearance responsibility.

According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), routine exposure to sexual objectification may cause women to self-objectify, taking an outsider's perspective on their own bodies. Self-objectification has been linked to negative outcomes for women, including disordered eating. This research explored relationships among exposure to sexually objectifying print media, self-objectification, body shame, and disordered or restrained eating through two studies. A new construct, appearance responsibility, was also developed and assessed. It was proposed that a feeling of responsibility for one's body and appearance may arise from exposure to objectifying print media and from increased levels of self-objectification, and may contribute to disordered eating. In Study 1, 328 undergraduate women completed survey measures of print media exposure, self-objectification, appearance responsibility, body shame, and disordered eating. Additional measures were included to establish validity for the appearance responsibility construct. Appearance responsibility was found to have strong convergent and divergent validity. Print media exposure directly predicted self-objectification and appearance responsibility, and indirectly predicted body shame. Self objectification predicted disordered eating both directly and indirectly through appearance responsibility and body shame. Self-objectification also mediated the relationship between objectifying print media exposure and disordered eating. In Study 2, 105 women participated in an experiment presented as a consumer marketing study. Women viewed magazine covers belonging to one of 5 conditions: (1) neutral wildlife covers; (2) less-objectifying text and image; (3) less objectifying image, more objectifying text; (4) more-objectifying image, less-objectifying text; (5) more objectifying image and text. Participants completed questionnaires assessing state levels of self-objectification, appearance responsibility, and body shame, as well as a taste test measuring restrained eating. Pre-existing trait self-objectification was also assessed. Compared to those who viewed neutral covers or covers with less-objectifying text, women who viewed more-objectifying text reported higher levels of state self-objectification, regardless of the image viewed. Exposure to more-objectifying images led to higher levels of state self-objectification only when combined with non-objectifying text. Objectifying media exposure did not exert an effect on state body shame or appearance responsibility, and exerted a positive but marginally significant effect on eating restraint. Limitations of the research and implications for future research and practice are discussed.