Protective and risk factors of the self-objectification process: a cross-cultural research

Authors

  • Silvia Gattino Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Torino
  • Angela Fedi Università di Torino
  • Chiara Rollero Università di Torino
  • Mihaela Boza Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania
  • Anna Brytek-Matera University of Wroclaw, Poland
  • Kamila Czepczor-Bernat University of Wroclaw, Poland
  • Jérémy E. Lemoine University of East London
  • Emma L. Wilson Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
  • Sahlan N. Reza University of Medical Science, Iran - Department of Clinical Psychology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/6661

Keywords:

self-objectification, Body Shame, Body Surveillance, cultural differences

Abstract

Self-objectification occurs when individuals consider themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated based on appearance. Literature has largely documented the damaging psychological consequences of this process, but its antecedents remain underexplored.
The study investigated the antecedents of self-objectification from a cross-cultural perspective. A total of 2566 adults (54% F; average age=33.78; DS=9.15), Italians (14.2%), Romanians (19%), Polish (31.3%), English (14.3%) and Iranians (21.1%), filled in a questionnaire that detected:
Self-objectification (Body Shame and Body Surveillance);
The internalization of the standards of beauty of the media;
Self-esteem;
The influence of significant others;
Social and personal characteristics and the BMI.
Data were analyzed separately for the five countries through regression models.
The results showed that Body Shame and Body Surveillance are associated with individual aspects – psychological and physical – and socio-cultural, whose role seems to vary across countries. Specifically, key variables are self-esteem and the internalization of beauty standards proposed by the media, especially referring to body shame. In order to promote protection factors that hinder self-objectification, it seems necessary to identify common and specific elements of the different cultural contexts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Silvia Gattino, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Torino

Silvia Gattino is researcher at Department of Psychology of the University of Turin, where teaches Community Psychology. Of interest to her are gender issues and in particular sexism and gender inequalities in health.

Angela Fedi, Università di Torino

Angela Fedi is associate professor of Social Psychology at the University of Turin. She is author of national and international books and papers. She deals in particular with groups, social inequalities, including gender inequalities, and participation.

Chiara Rollero, Università di Torino

Chiara Rollero is Associate Professor in Social and Community Psychology at the University of Turin. Her main research interests deal with gender issues from a psychosocial perspective. On this topic she has published more than fifty manuscripts in a variety of social and gender psychology journals.

Mihaela Boza, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania

Mihaela Boza is Associate Professor PhD, at Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. She is interested in research on attitudes, intergroup relations and developmental social psychology. She authored chapters in national and international volumes and several articles on integroup relations, identity and immigration.

Anna Brytek-Matera, University of Wroclaw, Poland

Anna Brytek-Matera is head of Nutrition Psychology Department and head of EAT Lab at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. She has actively cooperated with foreign institutions (e.g. University of Hohenheim, Stanford University). She is a member of the editorial board of the “Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity”. She is also an author of numerous publications focusing on eating disorders, orthorexic behaviour and obesity and has experience in many scientific projects as a principal investigator.

Kamila Czepczor-Bernat, University of Wroclaw, Poland

Kamila Czepczor-Bernat is assistant professor at the University of Wroclaw, Poland and is a member of EAT Lab. Her research and publications involve maladaptive eating behaviour and obesity. She is a member of the editorial board of the “Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity”.

Jérémy E. Lemoine, University of East London

Jérémy E. Lemoine is a Lecturer with a focus on social and organisational psychology at the University of East London. He is also a visiting lecturer at ESCP Europe Business School (UK). His research interests include social, organisational, economic and cross-cultural psychology.

Emma L. Wilson, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

Emma L. Wilson is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. Her research interests include youth mental health and clinical topics such as eating disorders. She is also interested in the role of technology in mental health and incorporating patient and public involvement throughout the research cycle.

Downloads

Published

2019-12-10

How to Cite

Gattino, S., Fedi, A., Rollero, C., Boza, M., Brytek-Matera, A., Czepczor-Bernat, K., … Reza, S. N. (2019). Protective and risk factors of the self-objectification process: a cross-cultural research. La Camera Blu, (21). https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/6661

Issue

No. 21 (2019): About genders

Section

The Topic

License

La camera blu is an open access, online publication, with licence  CCPL Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported