title: Downward spirals of body surveillance and weight/shape concern among African American and Caucasian college women.
abstract: Within dominant American culture, females often learn to view themselves from an observer's perspective and to treat themselves as objects to be looked at (i.e., self-objectification), which can result in negative outcomes. Body surveillance (the indicator of self-objectification) has been found to predict concern with weight/shape in predominantly Caucasian samples, but research has not yet examined the potential reciprocal relations between body surveillance and weight/shape concern. Participants were 226 women attending a Midwestern university (70 self-identified as African American and 156 as Caucasian) who provided data at two time points, spaced about 5 months apart. Results revealed that downward spirals of body surveillance and weight/shape concern were apparent for the Caucasian but not the African American women. However, there was evidence that body surveillance helped account for change in weight/shape concern for the African American women.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
authors: Ellen E
authors: EE
authors: Fitzsimmons
authors: Anna M
authors: AM
authors: Bardone-Cone