Relations of Sexual Objectification and Racist Discrimination with Latina Women’s Body Image and Mental Health

Abstract

In the current study, we tested direct and mediated associations of objectification theory constructs and racist discrimination with eating disorder and depressive symptomatology in a sample of 180 Latina women (age range = 18-66). Results of a path analysis indicated that internalization of sociocultural standards of attractiveness was related to greater eating disorder and depressive symptomatology in part through the mediating roles of body shame and body surveillance, and body surveillance was related to greater eating disorder and depressive symptomatology through the mediating role of body shame. Sexual objectification did not yield hypothesized direct and indirect unique relations with criterion variables. However, racist discrimination was directly associated with greater depressive symptomatology and indirectly associated, through the mediating role of body shame, with greater eating disorder and depressive symptomatology. These results extend tenets of objectification theory to Latina women and point to the role of racist discrimination within this framework.

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