Sexual Objectification and Substance Abuse in Young Adult Women

Abstract

Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) provides an important perspective for understanding the experiences of women living in a culture that sexualizes and objectifies the female body. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between interpersonal sexual objectification experiences and women’s substance abuse in a sample of 289 young adult women. Findings indicate that both everyday (e.g., body evaluation) and extreme (i.e., sexual victimization) forms of sexual objectification experiences were positively correlated with alcohol, nicotine, and other drug abuse. Furthermore, the findings provide support for a theorized mediated model in which sexual objectification is linked to women’s substance abuse both directly and indirectly via self-objectification, body shame, and depression.