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.