Association Between Superwoman Schema, Depression, and Resilience: The Mediating Role of Social Isolation and Gendered Racial Centrality

Objectives: We examined dimensions of Superwoman Schema as predictors of both depression and resilience. We also investigated if social isolation and gendered racial centrality mediated these relationships. Method: We used path analysis to investigate the direct and indirect effects of an obligation to display an image of strength, emotional suppression, and resistance to vulnerability on depressive symptoms through social isolation. We also explored the direct and indirect effects of an intense motivation to succeed and an obligation to help others on resilience through gendered racial centrality. Results: Emotional suppression and an obligation to help others were directly associated with depression. Emotional suppression, resistance to vulnerability, and an obligation to help others were indirectly associated with depression through social isolation. In contrast, an obligation to display an image of strength and an intense motivation to succeed was associated with resilience and gendered racial centrality. Conclusion: Findings highlight the unique complexity of Superwoman Schema as suggested within qualitative research. Black women’s endorsement of Superwoman Schema may be both adaptive in navigating interlocking systems of oppression and psychologically distressin

Objectification in Virtual Romantic Contexts: Perceived Discrepancies Between Self and Partner Ideals Differentially Affect Body Consciousness in Women and Men

The current study examined whether exposure to sexually objectifying images in a potential romantic partner's virtual apartment affects discrepancies between people's perception of their own appearance (i.e., self-perceptions) and their perception of the body ideal that is considered desirable to a romantic partner (i.e., partner-ideals). Participants were 114 heterosexual undergraduate students (57 women and 57 men) from a northeastern U.S. university. The study used a 2 (Participant Gender) x 2 (Virtual Environment: Sexualized vs. Non-Sexualized) between-subjects design. We predicted that women exposed to sexually objectifying images in a virtual environment would report greater discrepancies between their self-perceptions and partner-ideals than men, which in turn would contribute to women's body consciousness. Findings support this hypothesis and show that perceived discrepancies account for the relationship between exposure to sexually objectifying images and body consciousness for women but not men. We also found gender asymmetries in objectification responses when each component of perceived discrepancies, i.e., self-perceptions versus perceptions of a romantic partner's body ideal, were examined separately. For men, exposure to muscular sexualized images was significantly associated with their self-perceptions but not their perceptions of the body size that is considered desirable to a romantic partner. For women, exposure to thin sexualized images was significantly associated with their perceptions that a romantic partner preferred a woman with a smaller body size. However, exposure to these images did not affect women's self-perceptions. Implications for gender asymmetries in objectification responses and perceived discrepancies that include a romantic partner's perceptions are discussed