Face consciousness among South Korean women: A culture-specific extension of objectification theory.

Abstract

This study tested key tenets of objectification theory with South Korean women and explored the roles of sexually objectifying media and culture-specific standards of beauty in body image and eating disorder symptoms. Two pilot studies with South Korean college women (n = 40, n = 30) revealed that facial characteristics such as size and shape represent a discrete variable among culture-specific standards of beauty for South Korean women. Results with a sample of 562 South Korean college women indicated that media exposure had significant positive indirect relations with body shame and eating disorder symptoms through the mediating roles of internalization, body surveillance, and face surveillance. Internalization of cultural standards of beauty had significant positive direct relations with body surveillance and face surveillance and had both direct and indirect relations with body shame and eating disorder symptoms. Body and face surveillances had significant positive direct relations with body shame and had indirect relations with eating disorder symptoms. Finally, body shame mediated the links from internalization and surveillance variables to eating disorder symptoms. The results support the applicability of objectification theory as it relates to South Korean women and point to the significance of culture-specific standards of beauty within that framework. These findings could contribute to the broader field of multicultural body image research, with potential implications for therapist practices and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Features of objectified body consciousness and sociocultural perspectives as predictors of eating and body image disturbances among young women and men in China

“…For example, studies on objectified body consciousness have extended to women in South Korea (e.g. Kim, Seo, & Baek, 2014) and nepal (Crawford et al, 2009), but evaluations have been largely absent among women in highly populated, rapidly developing Asian nations such as China where over 20% of the world's population now lives.…”

Predictors of Cosmetic Surgery Consideration Among Young Chinese Women and Men

“…Paralleling thinness (Leung et al 2001) and facial features such as 'double-eyelids' and large eyes, a melon-shaped face, and small, proportionate, defined chin (e.g., Kim et al 2014;Luo 2012Luo , 2013 as central features of the current Chinese feminine attractiveness ideal, changes to facial characteristics and reductions in fat are the most popular targets of cosmetic surgery in China (Hackworth 2012;Luo 2013;Wen 2013). Consequently, these particular concerns may be more culturally-salient than overall body dissatisfaction as influences on Chinese women's willingness to consider future cosmetic surgery.…”

Predictors of Stature Concerns among Young Chinese Women and Men

“…Following Buchanan et al (2008) and Kim et al (2014), we created eight additional items to assess the culturally specific form of body monitoring regarding stature for Chinese sample: (a) “I often worry about how my height looks to other people”; (b) “I often compare my height with that of other people”; (c) “I rarely think about how my height looks”; (d) “I often think about how much taller or shorter my height is than other people’s”; (e) “I often wonder whether or not my height is attractive to other people”; (f) “I often think about how my height affects my looks”; (g) “I often feel conscious of how my height looks to other people”; and (h) “I often worry that my height is unattractive to other people.” Items are rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Higher scores indicate greater surveillance on height.…”

“…Chinese young women and men may expect to have their appearance evaluated not only in terms of body shape and size but also in terms of height. In keeping with the habitual skin-tone monitoring described by Buchanan et al (2008) and face size and shape surveillance described by Kim et al (2014), we hypothesized that Chinese young women and men similarly engage in habitual monitoring of their height, in addition to body shape/size surveillance.…”

“…Extensive research has indicated that features of OBC (body surveillance, body shame) were associated with body image concerns and disordered eating of adolescent girls and young women in the United States (e.g., Szymanski and Henning, 2007) and Australia (e.g., Tiggemann and Kuring, 2004). Moreover, studies on OBC have extended to other groups, such as young men in Australia (e.g., Tiggemann and Kuring, 2004), young women in South Korea (Kim et al, 2014) and young women and men in China (e.g., Jackson and Chen, 2015a,b). Recent studies have shown that body surveillance and body shame were associated with eating disorders (Jackson and Chen, 2015a), body dissatisfaction (Jackson et al, 2015), and cosmetic attitude (Jackson and Chen, 2015b) among young women and men in China.…”