Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-73).

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 19, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Anna Bardone-Cone. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Wake Forest University. Dept. of Health and Exercise Science, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-102).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Not available / text

The purpose of this study was to assess body-image attitudes and the extent of obligatory exercise among physically active women, and to examine interrelationships among these variables, and age differences. The sample included one hundred and eighty-three female exercise participants, aged 18 to 71 years. The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire was used to assess subjective body-image attitudes. The Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire was used to assess extent of obligatory exercise behavior. It was found that the majority of physically active women are generally satisfied with most aspects of their body images. However, 82% were concerned with their appearance, 30.6% were preoccupied with their weight, and 41% perceived themselves as being overweight. Appearance evaluation was positively related to satisfaction with weight, which was the strongest predictor of global appearance evaluation. Older women (56 to 71 years) were significantly more concerned with their health than were younger women (18 to 25 years). The extent of obligatory exercise behavior among physically active women was very small, and was not related to age. Obligatory exercise scores were predicted by fitness and health orientation, and overweight preoccupation, and inversely predicted by age and health evaluation.

Previous research has shown that many women feel self-conscious of their bodies during physical intimacy with their partners, and this body image self-consciousness was related to sexual esteem, sexual assertiveness, sexual experience, and avoidance of sexual behavior. The purpose of the present study was to further explore body image selfconsciousness and examine its relationship with sexual functioning, risky sexual behavior, and sexual victimization. Participants were 171 heterosexual, sexually active, female undergraduate college students and completed the Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale (BISCS), the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES), and a questionnaire assessing sexual experience and risky sexual behavior. Results found that body image self-consciousness was associated with use of protection against sexually transmitted infection during vaginal sex, overall sexual functioning, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and sexual satisfaction, and the frequency of some sexual behavior, but not sexual victimization. / Department of Psychological Science

Weight and body image are issues many females face that can lead to unhealthy exercising and extreme dieting. This paper examines the relationship between perceptions of mothers’ attitudes and behaviors regarding weight and body image and their 18-25 year old daughters’ attitudes and behaviors. This research utilizes a survey of 876 females at a Midwestern university. Respondents report being at least somewhat uncomfortable with their weight and report a lack of confidence with their weight. Regression results indicate that females’ attitudes and behaviors are somewhat explained by perceptions of their mothers’ attitudes and behaviors. Mothers making negative comments about their own weight, mothers telling their daughters to lose weight and mothers’ weight loss behaviors significantly influence respondents’ weight satisfaction, self-esteem, weight loss and weight control behaviors. This research identifies factors contributing to unhealthy eating behaviors and poor body image, and suggests how mothers can help improve their daughters’ body image. / Department of Sociology

Wright and Adams (1994; 1999) developed a Choice Reaction Time measure to assess sexual interests in men and women. In their studies, men responded in accordance to their self-reported sexual interests much more consistently than women. Placing these results in the framework of objectification theories (e.g., Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), the present study was designed to examine the relationship between body image and young women's CRT responses.Forty-two females participated in the CRT task. Consistent with previous studies, 21 (50%) of the women took longer to respond on male trials than female trials. These women were compared to those who took longer on female trials on all the body image and sexuality measures using ANOVA's. Results indicated no significant differences on any of the body image measures, but a small number of differences on sexuality measures. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for gender differences in sexual interest. / Department of Psychological Science

Research on the psychology of women, and women's negative embodied experiences, frequently implicates societal practices of objectification as catalysts for the internalization of objectification in women, or self-objectification. While extant models and theories provide excellent frameworks for identifying the causes, consequences and development of self-objectification in women, much detail is required before these formulations achieve their full clinical application. Information on women's immediate emotional, cognitive, and behavioural responses to objectifying social experiences would assist clinicians and clients to identify common concomitants of objectification and self-objectification, particularly those that aggregate over time into long-term negative psychological outcomes. / In the present study, hypotheses regarding women's social experiences of objectification and self-objectification were tested on 228 college-age women who completed the Objectification Response Questionnaire (ORQ; Robinson, 2001), and measures assessing Objectified Body Consciousness (OBC; McKinley & Hyde, 1996) and Self-Objectification (SOQ; Noll & Fredrickson, 1997). On the ORQ, participants report on emotional and cognitive responses, as well as behavioural responses in the form of social looking, to hypothetical scenarios depicting social experiences of objectifying gazing by a stranger. ORQ responses were unrelated to SOQ scores, but were related to OBC Self-Surveillance and Control Beliefs subscales. Interactions of OBC scores and observer characteristics of gender and attractiveness were also significantly related to ORQ scores. Results are discussed in the context of augmenting prevailing theories and models in the area of women and self-objectification, specifically in the form of clinical applications to disrupt certain social experiences of objectification and self-objectification, and facilitate behaviours, thoughts and attitudes associated with resilience, competence and subjectification.