title: The impact of the amount of social evaluation on psychobiological responses to a body image threat.
abstract: The present study examined the impact of amount of social-evaluative body image threat on psychobiological responses. Women (N=123) were randomized into an individual-threat, group-threat or no-threat condition. Participants completed a measure of state body shame and provided a sample of saliva (to assess cortisol) at baseline and following their condition. Both threat conditions had higher baseline-adjusted body shame following the threat compared to the no-threat condition; however, no difference on baseline-adjusted body shame between the threat conditions was found. The same pattern of results was found for cortisol - both threat conditions had higher baseline-adjusted response cortisol than the no-threat condition, with no significant differences between the threat groups. Findings suggest that the magnitude of psychobiological responses to a social-evaluative body image threat does not differ with the amount of social-evaluative threat (individual- versus group-threat). These findings provide insight into the context of body image threats of women.
authors: Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
authors: Miranda C
authors: MC
authors: Cloudt
authors: Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: llamarche@brocku.ca.
authors: Larkin
authors: L
authors: Lamarche
authors: Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
authors: Kimberley L
authors: KL
authors: Gammage
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012649:Self Concept; D012752:Shame; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Body image; Cortisol; Shame; Social self-preservation theory; Women