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A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention to Reduce the Negative Effects of Sexual Objectification Among College Women

Pentzien, Cassandra
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1560020773927712

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Psychology/Clinical.
The present study describes the development and piloting of two brief interventions to reduce the negative effects of sexual objectification among college women: one using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and media literacy techniques and another using solely media literacy (ML). Specifically, the short-term effectiveness in terms of reducing negative body feelings, self-surveillance, and psychological inflexibility was evaluated for both interventions as compared to a control group who received no intervention. Trait self-objectification and internalization of appearance ideals were also evaluated as potential moderators of intervention and the outcome variables. Prior research has found ACT to be helpful for treating body image dissatisfaction (Atkinson & Wade, 2012; Berman, Morton, & Hegel, 2015; Follette, Heffner, & Pearson, 2010). However, no previous studies have combined media literacy with ACT techniques to provide a group-based body image intervention. The present study aimed to fill this void. Data were collected from 167 undergraduate females who were randomly assigned to participate in a 4-hour ACT or ML intervention, or no intervention. Participants were given questionnaires pre- and post-intervention to assess changes in the outcome variables (negative body feelings, self-surveillance, and psychological inflexibility). The results found the ML intervention to be most effective in reducing all outcome variables. Furthermore, minimal evidence was found to support trait self-objectification, internalization of media appearance ideals, and internalization of muscular appearance ideals as moderating variables. Findings from the current study have implications for future research, including identifying the appropriate dosage for ACT interventions.
Eric Dubow, Ph.D. (Advisor)
William O'Brien, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Dara Musher-Eizenman, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
John Liederbach, Ph.D. (Other)
168 p.
Clinical Psychology
ACT; body image; media literacy; intervention

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pentzien, C. (2019). A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention to Reduce the Negative Effects of Sexual Objectification Among College Women [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1560020773927712

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pentzien, Cassandra. A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention to Reduce the Negative Effects of Sexual Objectification Among College Women. 2019. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1560020773927712.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pentzien, Cassandra. "A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention to Reduce the Negative Effects of Sexual Objectification Among College Women." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1560020773927712

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1560020773927712
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© 2019, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention to Reduce the Negative Effects of Sexual Objectification Among College Women by Cassandra Pentzien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.