Honors Program
Date of this Version
2022
Document Type
Article
Citation
Brewer, S., (2022). The Confluence Model of Sexual Objectification: A Modern Application in College Aged Men. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
Abstract
Sexual aggression is a global problem that impacts many men and women. To prevent the harmful effects of sexual aggression, substantial research has focused on understanding risk for perpetration among men. One prevalent theory used to understand pathways to sexual assault perpetration is the Malamuth and colleagues (1991) confluence model. The goal of the current study was to replicate and expand the confluence model to be more applicable to modern theories and populations (Malamuth et al., 1995). Participants were 409 college men who completed questionnaires about their attitudes towards sex, masculinity, and their previous sexually coercive behaviors. A general multivariate linear model was conducted with five predictors (playboy norms, masculinity boost and threat, the interaction between playboy norms and boost, the interaction between playboy norms and threat) and two outcome variables (sexual objectification, sexual aggression). Unexpectedly, there were no associations between any of our predictors and sexual aggression, but there were relations between impersonal sex, masculinity boost, and the interaction of impersonal sex and boosted masculinity with sexual objectification. Our findings indicate that core constructs of the confluence model may be relevant for other sexual risk behaviors, including sexual objectification. Understanding these relations may be useful for future prevention programs.
Comments
Copyright Sadie Brewer 2022.