An Exploration of the Health-Relevance of Self-Objectification via Basal Cortisol Function in Middle-Aged and Older Women
Creators: name: Elling, Claire Elizabeth
Publisher: name: Brandeis University
Year: 2023

description: Self-objectification refers to the adoption of a third-party, sexually objectifying view of oneself and is associated with numerous negative consequences, such as depression. One understudied area of the impact of self-objectification is its capacity to contribute to poor physical health outcomes, which may in turn mediate its relationship to depression. Indirect evidence suggests that the everyday process of self-objectifying may be stressful, resulting in repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the release of cortisol. The effects of this biological process may accumulate over time and contribute to poor health and depressive symptoms. The current studies had several main aims, the first of which was to examine the extent to which self-objectification is related to basal cortisol dysfunction and whether basal cortisol dysfunction informs the relationship between self-objectification and depression in middle-aged and older women (Study 1). Next, the studies sought to examine the same group of women longitudinally in the context of a low-impact physical activity intervention to assess whether this context might impact self-objectification or its theorized consequences: depressive symptoms and basal cortisol dysfunction (Study 2). Finally, the current work assessed the relationship between self-objectification and body function satisfaction and whether these changed differentially in the context of a low-impact physical activity intervention (Study 3). Results of Study 1 indicated that self-objectification was not related to basal cortisol function metrics and basal cortisol function did not mediate the relationship between self-objectification and depressive symptoms. Evidence suggested that total daily cortisol secretion moderated the relationship between self-objectification and depressive symptoms, but not in the expected direction. This finding was replicated in Study 2, but with change in cortisol across time as the moderator. Additionally, Study 2 revealed that while steps increased, self-objectification was not impacted by a low-impact walking intervention, nor were basal cortisol metrics or depressive symptoms. Self-objectification was also not indicated as a barrier to physical activity. While they did not change significantly, change in self-objectification was positively associated with change in basal cortisol metrics. Finally, Study 3 indicated that a low-impact physical activity intervention could offer improvements in body function satisfaction but not self-objectification, and that body function satisfaction did not change inversely with self-objectification. Additionally, the findings of Study 3 indicated that body function satisfaction was not related to basal cortisol function metrics. The findings of these 3 studies expand the literature on the impact of self-objectification, specifically the smaller literature that focuses on women beyond college-age. Furthermore, these results highlight the necessity of assessing self-objectification across the lifespan and offer a novel exploration into potential biomarkers of self-objectification and body function satisfaction.