How cultural orientation and self-compassion shape objectified body consciousness for women from America, Belgium, Russia, and Thailand

Authors

Robin Wollast, Université Libre De BruxellesFollow
Abigail R. Riemer, Carroll University, Waukesha, WisconsinFollow
Sarah Gervais, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Lusine Grigoryan, Ruhr University BochumFollow
Philippe Bernard, Université Libre De BruxellesFollow
Olivier Klein, Université Libre De BruxellesFollow

ORCID IDs

Robin Wollast http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5395-9969

Abigail R. Riemer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0859-6705

Sarah J. Gervais http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2667-6370

Lusine Grigoryan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2077-1975

Olivier Klein http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2737-8049

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Published in Self and Identity 2020

DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2020.1787220

Comments

Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Used by permission.

Abstract

According to objectification theory, being treated as an object leads women to engage in self-objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame, impairing women’s mental health. While most studies focusing on self-objectification rely heavily on Western populations that emphasize individualism, the current work investigates the phenomenon of body surveillance and body shame in a cross-cultural framework, involving a comparison between American, Belgian, Russian, and Thai women (N = 605). This study aims to highlight two predictors – cultural orientation and self-compassion. Results indicate that greater endorsement of vertical individualism is related to body surveillance for American, Belgian, and Russian women; however, this relation occurred in the opposite direction for Thai women. Moreover, Americans’ higher levels of body surveillance and body shame coexist with less self-compassion, whereas the reverse was true for Thais. We also tested a complementary moderation model and found that the relation between body surveillance and body shame was moderated by self-compassion, further pointing to the important role of self-compassion in the model posited by objectification theory. As a result, discussion centers on a call for future research to more closely examine how self-objectification and its correlates unfold among women of various cultural backgrounds.

Includes Supplementary Materials.