**1.3 Hypotheses**

The present study examined the relationships between positive sexual awareness, sexual self-monitoring, coping, and psychopathological symptoms in a college student sample. Using the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire [32], we hypothesized that positive sexual awareness would be positively related to adaptive coping and negatively related to symptoms of psychopathology, while sexual self-monitoring, indicative of being objectified, would be positively related to avoidant, passive coping and symptoms of psychopathology. Analyses also tested whether the relationships between sexual self-monitoring and symptoms of psychopathology were mediated by avoidant coping. Given the greater salience of objectification for women than men, it was also hypothesized that the above relationships would be stronger for women than for men.
