Social Comparison, Self-Objectification, and Objectification of Others Investigating the Vicious Cycle That Leads to Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2010 Social Comparison, Self-objectification, And Objectification Of Others Investigating The Vicious Cycle That Leads To Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating Danielle M. Lindner University of Central Florida Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Lindner, Danielle M., "Social Comparison, Self-objectification, And Objectification Of Others Investigating The Vicious Cycle That Leads To Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1633. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1633 SOCIAL COMPARISON, SELF-OBJECTIFICATION, AND OBJECTIFICATION OF OTHERS: INVESTIGATING THE VICIOUS CYCLE THAT LEADS TO BODY DISSATISFACTION AND DISORDERED EATING DANIELLE M. LINDNER B.A., Nazareth College of Rochester, 2007 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2010 Major Professor: Stacey Tantleff Dunn, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to test a new theoretical model that integrates self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison as contributors to the development and maintenance of body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior. Within the new theoretical model, self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison are conceptualized as a self-perpetuating cycle, rather than as processes that occur independently of one another. Four hundred fifty-nine female college students between the ages of 18 and 32 completed measures of self-objectification, objectification of others, social comparison, body shame, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology. Structural equation modeling with nested model comparisons was used to examine the fit of the new theoretical model relative to less complex models which contain only relationships which have received previous attention in the research literature (e.g., the relationship between self-objectification and body shame). Results indicated that the new theoretical model demonstrates good fit for the data and that the fit of this model is significantly better than the original model suggested by the literature. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediational analyses also provided support for the interplay between objectification and social comparison. Implications for clinical work as well as theory and measurement will be discussed. ii For my parents and my sister. Your love and encouragement is felt every day. Thank you for always believing in me. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Stacey Tantleff Dunn. I am incredibly grateful for all you do to make my training such a wonderful experience. Thank you for helping me see the importance of both the process and the product as I have completed my master‟s thesis. You have helped me to grow so much as a researcher over the past few years and I look forward to moving on to my dissertation. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Florian Jentsch and Dr. Charles Negy. Dr. Jentsch, this project would not have been possible without your statistical guidance. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me understand not only what I was doing, but why I was doing it. Dr. Negy, thank you for sharing your expertise and acting as a committee member for this research. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Objectification Theory ................................................................................................................ 2 Social Comparison Theory .......................................................................................................... 9 The Current Study ..................................................................................................................... 17 Hypotheses ................................................................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER TWO: METHOD ....................................................................................................... 21 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 21 Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 22 Measures.................................................................................................................................... 22 Demographic Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 22 Self-Objectification. .............................................................................................................. 23 Objectification of Others. ...................................................................................................... 24 Social Comparison. ................................................................................................................ 25 Body Shame. .......................................................................................................................... 25 Body Image............................................................................................................................ 26 Eating Disorder Symptomatology. ........................................................................................ 27 CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS ................................................................................................... 28 Data Screening .......................................................................................................................... 28 Hypothesis 1 .............................................................................................................................. 32 Hypothesis 2 .............................................................................................................................. 33 Hypothesis 3 .............................................................................................................................. 33 Hypothesis 4 .............................................................................................................................. 35 Hypothesis 5 .............................................................................................................................. 36 Evaluation of the Theoretical Model ......................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION ............................................................................................... 40 The Theoretical Model .............................................................................................................. 42 Clinical Implications ................................................................................................................. 44 v Implications for Theory and Measurement ............................................................................... 46 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 48 Future Directions ....................................................................................................................... 48 APPENDIX A: FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................................. 50 APPENDIX B: INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL LETTER ......................... 70 APPENDIX C: HUMAN SUBJECTS INFORMED CONSENT FORM .................................... 72 APPENDIX D:DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................... 75 APPENDIX E: SELF-OBJECTIFICATION QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................... 77 APPENDIX F: BODY SURVEILLANCE SUBSCALE OF THE OBJECTIFIED BODY CONSCIOUSNESS SCALE ........................................................................................................ 79 APPENDIX G: MODIFIED SELF-OBJECTIFICATION QUESTIONNAIRE .......................... 81 APPENDIX H: SURVEILLANCE OF OTHERS SCALE .......................................................... 83 APPENDIX I: BODY COMPARISON SCALE .......................................................................... 85 APPENDIX J: PHYSICAL APPEARANCE COMPARISON SCALE ...................................... 88 APPENDIX K: BODY SHAME SUBSCALE OF THE OBJECTIFIED BODY CONSCIOUSNESS SCALE ........................................................................................................ 90 APPENDIX