**2.2 Measures**

Reported Cronbach's alphas are based on the present sample.

Somatization was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-15 Somatic Symptom Severity scale [33, 34] (α = 0.77), which consists of 15 questions asking about how often one has been bothered by somatization symptoms, such as

**51**

*Don't Objectify Me!: Sexual Self-Monitoring, Coping, and Psychological Maladjustment*

"stomach pain" and "dizziness," in the past 2 weeks. Responses are coded 0 = "Not Bothered," 1 = "Bothered A Little," and 2 = "Bothered A Lot." Scores are the sum of

Anxiety was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire GAD-7 Anxiety scale [36] (α = 0.82), which consists of 7 questions asking about the frequency of anxiety symptoms one has experienced in the past 4 weeks, with items such as "Feeling nervous, anxious, on edge, or worrying a lot about different things." Responses are coded 0 = "Not at all," 1 = "Several days," 2 = "More than half the days," and 3 = "Nearly every day." Scores are the sum of the responses across the 7 items. Since the depression and anxiety scales were highly correlated (r = 0.78), they were combined

Eating disorder symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-ED Eating Disorder scale [34] (α = 0.70), which consists of 8 yes-no questions asking about the occurrence of behaviors indicative of a binge eating disorder. An example item is "Do you often feel that you can't control what or how much you

Sexual awareness was measured by the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire [32], a 36-item self-report measure designed to measure four personality traits associated with sexual awareness and assertiveness: sexual consciousness (the tendency to think about one's own sexuality; "I am very aware of my sexual feelings"; α = 0.85), sexual monitoring (the awareness one has of the impression one's sexuality makes on others; "I'm concerned about the sexual appearance of my body"; α = 0.76), sexual assertiveness (the tendency to be assertive in one's sexual desires; "I'm assertive about the sexual aspects of my life"; α = 0.80), and sex appeal consciousness ("I am quick to sense whether others think I'm sexy"; α = 0.93). Participants are asked to indicate, on a scale of zero to four, how characteristic of him/her each statement is. Subscale scores are the sum of the responses on the relevant items. Sexual consciousness correlated 0.64 with sexual assertiveness in the present sample, so these 2 scales were combined (averaged) to form a positive sexual awareness scale, in contrast to the sexual self-monitoring scale, which may reflect one's acceptance of being sexually objectified. The 3-item sex appeal consciousness subscale was not used in the present analyses. The Sexual Awareness Questionnaire has been vali-

Coping was measured by the Brief COPE [37], which consists of 14 two-item subscales that measure different coping responses. For the present study, participants were asked to report on their coping behaviors in the past year (indicative of a "coping style") using a 4-point response scale ranging from 1 = "I haven't been doing this at all" to 4 = "I've been doing this a lot." Six of the subscales (active coping, emotional support, instrumental support, positive reframing, planning, acceptance) were combined (averaged) to form an adaptive coping scale (α = 0.82). Three of the subscales (denial, substance use, behavioral disengagement) were combined to form an avoidant coping scale (α = 0.73). While Carver [37] states that the separate COPE subscales are not meant to be combined into necessarily adaptive vs. maladaptive avoidant coping, the above schema made sense in terms of the idea of agency discussed above, and the alphas for the composite scales indicate that the

Depression was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 Depression scale [35] (α = 0.85), which consists of 9 questions asking about the frequency of depressive symptoms one has experienced in the past 2 weeks, with items such as "Little interest or pleasure in doing things" and "Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless." Responses are coded 0 = "Not at all," 1 = "Several days," 2 = "More than half the days," and 3 = "Nearly every day." Scores are the sum of the responses across

(averaged) to form a composite depression-anxiety scale.

dated on a population of undergraduate students.

separate COPE subscales did cluster within the composite scales.

eat?" Scores are the number of yes responses across the 8 items.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90997*

the responses across the 15 items.

the 9 items.

*Don't Objectify Me!: Sexual Self-Monitoring, Coping, and Psychological Maladjustment DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90997*

"stomach pain" and "dizziness," in the past 2 weeks. Responses are coded 0 = "Not Bothered," 1 = "Bothered A Little," and 2 = "Bothered A Lot." Scores are the sum of the responses across the 15 items.

Depression was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 Depression scale [35] (α = 0.85), which consists of 9 questions asking about the frequency of depressive symptoms one has experienced in the past 2 weeks, with items such as "Little interest or pleasure in doing things" and "Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless." Responses are coded 0 = "Not at all," 1 = "Several days," 2 = "More than half the days," and 3 = "Nearly every day." Scores are the sum of the responses across the 9 items.

Anxiety was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire GAD-7 Anxiety scale [36] (α = 0.82), which consists of 7 questions asking about the frequency of anxiety symptoms one has experienced in the past 4 weeks, with items such as "Feeling nervous, anxious, on edge, or worrying a lot about different things." Responses are coded 0 = "Not at all," 1 = "Several days," 2 = "More than half the days," and 3 = "Nearly every day." Scores are the sum of the responses across the 7 items. Since the depression and anxiety scales were highly correlated (r = 0.78), they were combined (averaged) to form a composite depression-anxiety scale.

Eating disorder symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-ED Eating Disorder scale [34] (α = 0.70), which consists of 8 yes-no questions asking about the occurrence of behaviors indicative of a binge eating disorder. An example item is "Do you often feel that you can't control what or how much you eat?" Scores are the number of yes responses across the 8 items.

Sexual awareness was measured by the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire [32], a 36-item self-report measure designed to measure four personality traits associated with sexual awareness and assertiveness: sexual consciousness (the tendency to think about one's own sexuality; "I am very aware of my sexual feelings"; α = 0.85), sexual monitoring (the awareness one has of the impression one's sexuality makes on others; "I'm concerned about the sexual appearance of my body"; α = 0.76), sexual assertiveness (the tendency to be assertive in one's sexual desires; "I'm assertive about the sexual aspects of my life"; α = 0.80), and sex appeal consciousness ("I am quick to sense whether others think I'm sexy"; α = 0.93). Participants are asked to indicate, on a scale of zero to four, how characteristic of him/her each statement is. Subscale scores are the sum of the responses on the relevant items. Sexual consciousness correlated 0.64 with sexual assertiveness in the present sample, so these 2 scales were combined (averaged) to form a positive sexual awareness scale, in contrast to the sexual self-monitoring scale, which may reflect one's acceptance of being sexually objectified. The 3-item sex appeal consciousness subscale was not used in the present analyses. The Sexual Awareness Questionnaire has been validated on a population of undergraduate students.

Coping was measured by the Brief COPE [37], which consists of 14 two-item subscales that measure different coping responses. For the present study, participants were asked to report on their coping behaviors in the past year (indicative of a "coping style") using a 4-point response scale ranging from 1 = "I haven't been doing this at all" to 4 = "I've been doing this a lot." Six of the subscales (active coping, emotional support, instrumental support, positive reframing, planning, acceptance) were combined (averaged) to form an adaptive coping scale (α = 0.82). Three of the subscales (denial, substance use, behavioral disengagement) were combined to form an avoidant coping scale (α = 0.73). While Carver [37] states that the separate COPE subscales are not meant to be combined into necessarily adaptive vs. maladaptive avoidant coping, the above schema made sense in terms of the idea of agency discussed above, and the alphas for the composite scales indicate that the separate COPE subscales did cluster within the composite scales.

*Psycho-Social Aspects of Human Sexuality and Ethics*

frequently in passive coping.

stronger for women than for men.

**1.3 Hypotheses**

**2. Methods**

**2.1 Participants**

**2.2 Measures**

Few studies have explored why these gender differences exist in coping styles, though there is evidence that links gender differences in coping styles to gendered beliefs. Broderick and Koreland [30] found that the more adolescent girls believed in traditional gender roles, the more likely they were to engage in passive coping styles. In their analysis of coping and gender, Banyard and Graham-Bermann [31] argued that societal factors, such as power differences between men and women, affected the way in which women cope with stress. Gendered beliefs and power differences are not inherent in women; they are developed through the way society treats women. From a feminist theoretical perspective, one can see how gendered beliefs and a sense of powerlessness promote passive coping styles in women. In the context of Objectification Theory, it is possible to attribute this to the objectification of women. When women are objectified, their identity and worth are defined by others [15], stripping women of their most basic power, the ability to define one's own identity and worth. It is possible that, through this process (the loss of basic power and agency), women learn to become passive and thus engage more

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

Four hundred thirteen undergraduate psychology students (283 female, 127 male, 1 other, 2 not reported) at a large southwestern state university completed an anonymous online survey for research participation credit. The majority of the participants identified as straight (90.1%), followed by bisexual (5.8%), gay or lesbian (2.7%), and other (1.2%). The mean age of the sample was 19.4 years (SD = 2.7) for women and 20.0 years (SD = 3.0) for men. The race/ethnicity of the sample was 38.0% Caucasian/White, 26.6% Hispanic/Latino, 20.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 11.1% African American/Black, and 3.6% other. Almost half of the participants (45.4%) defined themselves as not currently dating, followed by steady or exclusive daters at 38.3%, occasionally dating at 10.9%, married 2.4%, and engaged 2.7%.

Reported Cronbach's alphas are based on the present sample.

Somatization was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-15 Somatic Symptom Severity scale [33, 34] (α = 0.77), which consists of 15 questions asking about how often one has been bothered by somatization symptoms, such as

**50**
