Military sexual assault and disordered eating in female Veterans: A test of objectification theory

Abstract: Objectification Theory provides a theoretical framework in which sexual objectification of women contributes to the development of disordered eating through body surveillance, body shame, appearance anxiety, and low internal bodily awareness. This study aimed to address current gaps in the literature and extend previous findings by incorporating sexual assault and body responsiveness into the objectification model of disordered eating, as well as contributing to the limited research testing appearance anxiety and internal bodily awareness as intermediary variables. In addition to testing the objectification model of disordered eating, an alternate model was proposed based on previous research suggesting a different ordering of intermediary variables and an additional pathway through low body responsiveness. Prolific Academic and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk were used to recruit 174 female veterans as participants of the study. Participants complete an online questionnaire of self-report measures assessing military sexual assault, body surveillance, body shame, appearance anxiety, internal bodily awareness, body responsiveness, and disordered eating. Approximately 56.9% of female veterans in the present study reported being sexually assaulted while serving in the military. Military sexual assault was associated with higher current levels of disordered eating; higher levels of body shame; higher levels of body surveillance; and lower levels of internal bodily awareness. Using path analysis, the proposed and original objectification models of disordered eating were not supported as full-mediation or partially-mediated models. However, when examining the constituent components of the broader model as separate models, all partially-mediated component models had adequate to good fit across most indices. The indirect effects of military sexual assault on disordered eating via the serial combination of body surveillance and body shame, as well as the serial combination through body surveillance and appearance anxiety were significant. However, the indirect effects through the serial combination of body surveillance, body shame, and low internal bodily awareness and the serial combination through body surveillance and low body responsiveness were not significant. The present study highlights the importance of future longitudinal studies that examine the directionality of effects within the objectification model in order to better understand the mechanisms through which military sexual assault contributes to the development of disordered eating. If supported in longitudinal studies, findings suggest that clinicians may benefit from assessing levels of body surveillance, body shame, and appearance anxiety in female veterans who have experienced military sexual assault in order to aid in early detection of disordered eating, as well as potentially incorporating these into treatment as additional targets for intervention.

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