Parental Influence on Young Adults’ Self-Objectification and Objectification of Women and Men

Abstract

Repeated experiences of objectification, wherein a person's body is treated as representative of their value, leads individuals to adopt an observer's view of themselves, a process referred to as self-objectification. Self-objectification is associated with numerous poor outcomes, including body shame and disordered eating. Evidently, it is necessary to explore predictors of self- and other objectification. Objectification and self-objectification are both learnt processes, with media, peers, and parents being attributed as most influential. However, the literature has predominantly explored parental influence in relation to mothers' and daughters' self-objectification. Here, I explored the relationship between parents' objectification of women and men and young adults' self- and other objectification. Using convenience sampling (N= 184), young adults were recruited to complete a survey including measures of self- and other objectification, self-esteem, body esteem, parental care, and perceived parental objectification. Young adults recruited their parents to gain scores for parental self-objectification, and objectification of women and men. Perceived maternal objectification of women predicted daughters', but not sons', objectification of women while perceived paternal objectification was not a significant predictor. At high levels of maternal care, low perceived maternal objectification of women also protected against daughters' self-objectification. Perceived paternal objectification of women predicted daughters' self-objectification independent of paternal care. My findings fill a gap in the literature as they suggest that parental objectification of women impacts upon daughters' self-objectification and objectification of other women. Evidently, there is a need to increase parental awareness regarding the impact of objectifying women. Keywords: self-objectification, objectification, parental influence