The theory of self-objectification, developed by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explains how women view their bodies as objects. Studies have looked at self-objectification and its associated negative effects, such as cognitive decline, body shame, disordered eating, and low self-esteem in a number of different populations; however, no study to date has utilized path analysis to examine the role that self-objectification plays in unwanted sexual contact. If self-objectification does lead to decreases in self-esteem and increases in viewing one's body as a sexual object, then women may feel they have little choice when faced with sexual coercion. The present study examined a path analysis model of self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, body shame, low self-esteem, eating attitudes, and sexual experiences self-reported by sorority and non-sorority college women. It was hypothesized that the path analysis would be supported more by the sorority participant data than the non-sorority participant data. Participants were asked to complete web-based questionnaires pertaining to the variables of interest. Separate path analyses were conducted to compare the model of fit between the sorority and non-sorority participants. The results suggested that the predicted model was a good fit for both samples, but that that the model was a better fit for the college women who were not in sororities. Implications and reasons for this are considered in the discussion section.
","abstract_html":"<p>The theory of self-objectification, developed by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explains how women view their bodies as objects. Studies have looked at self-objectification and its associated negative effects, such as cognitive decline, body shame, disordered eating, and low self-esteem in a number of different populations; however, no study to date has utilized path analysis to examine the role that self-objectification plays in unwanted sexual contact. If self-objectification does lead to decreases in self-esteem and increases in viewing one's body as a sexual object, then women may feel they have little choice when faced with sexual coercion. The present study examined a path analysis model of self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, body shame, low self-esteem, eating attitudes, and sexual experiences self-reported by sorority and non-sorority college women. It was hypothesized that the path analysis would be supported more by the sorority participant data than the non-sorority participant data. Participants were asked to complete web-based questionnaires pertaining to the variables of interest. Separate path analyses were conducted to compare the model of fit between the sorority and non-sorority participants. The results suggested that the predicted model was a good fit for both samples, but that that the model was a better fit for the college women who were not in sororities. Implications and reasons for this are considered in the discussion section.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chilian, Lauren Alexis"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Richard Ferraro"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:26:30Z","subjects":["College Women, Eating Attitudes, Self-Objectification, Sexual Coercion, Sorority Women"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.und.edu/theses/1518","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Richard Ferraro"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chilian, Lauren Alexis"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["College Women, Eating Attitudes, Self-Objectification, Sexual Coercion, Sorority Women"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/1518"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The theory of self-objectification, developed by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explains how women view their bodies as objects. Studies have looked at self-objectification and its associated negative effects, such as cognitive decline, body shame, disordered eating, and low self-esteem in a number of different populations; however, no study to date has utilized path analysis to examine the role that self-objectification plays in unwanted sexual contact. If self-objectification does lead to decreases in self-esteem and increases in viewing one's body as a sexual object, then women may feel they have little choice when faced with sexual coercion. The present study examined a path analysis model of self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, body shame, low self-esteem, eating attitudes, and sexual experiences self-reported by sorority and non-sorority college women. It was hypothesized that the path analysis would be supported more by the sorority participant data than the non-sorority participant data. Participants were asked to complete web-based questionnaires pertaining to the variables of interest. Separate path analyses were conducted to compare the model of fit between the sorority and non-sorority participants. The results suggested that the predicted model was a good fit for both samples, but that that the model was a better fit for the college women who were not in sororities. Implications and reasons for this are considered in the discussion section.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Self-Objectification, Eating Attitudes, And Sexual Coercion In College Women"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Richard Ferraro"],"dc:creator":["Chilian, Lauren Alexis"],"dc:description.abstract":["The theory of self-objectification, developed by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explains how women view their bodies as objects. Studies have looked at self-objectification and its associated negative effects, such as cognitive decline, body shame, disordered eating, and low self-esteem in a number of different populations; however, no study to date has utilized path analysis to examine the role that self-objectification plays in unwanted sexual contact. If self-objectification does lead to decreases in self-esteem and increases in viewing one's body as a sexual object, then women may feel they have little choice when faced with sexual coercion. The present study examined a path analysis model of self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, body shame, low self-esteem, eating attitudes, and sexual experiences self-reported by sorority and non-sorority college women. It was hypothesized that the path analysis would be supported more by the sorority participant data than the non-sorority participant data. Participants were asked to complete web-based questionnaires pertaining to the variables of interest. Separate path analyses were conducted to compare the model of fit between the sorority and non-sorority participants. The results suggested that the predicted model was a good fit for both samples, but that that the model was a better fit for the college women who were not in sororities. Implications and reasons for this are considered in the discussion section.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/1518"],"dc:subject":["College Women, Eating Attitudes, Self-Objectification, Sexual Coercion, Sorority Women"],"dc:title":["Self-Objectification, Eating Attitudes, And Sexual Coercion In College Women"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:26:30Z"}