Youth in Western countries are exposed to many messages that sexualize women. We selectively review the literature on sexualization with the goal of clarifying and integrating theories, constructs, and models of the pathways and mechanisms via which exposure to such messages may affect youth. In the first section of the article, we define…

We examine emotion self-regulation and coregulation in romantic couples using daily self-reports of positive and negative affect. We fit these data using a damped linear oscillator model specified as a latent differential equation to investigate affect dynamics at the individual level and coupled influences for the 2 partners in each couple.…

Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) provides an important perspective for understanding the experiences of women living in a culture that sexualizes and objectifies the female body. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between interpersonal sexual objectification experiences and women's substance abuse in a…

We tested a dual process motivational model of ambivalent sexism and gender differences in intimate partner preferences. Meta-analysis of 32 samples (16 with men, 16 with women; N = 5,459) indicated that Benevolent Sexism (BS) in women was associated with greater preferences for high-resource partners (r = 0.24), whereas Hostile Sexism (HS) in men…

The acceptance model of intuitive eating (Avalos & Tylka, 2006) posits that body acceptance by others helps women appreciate their body and resist adopting an observer's perspective of their body, which contribute to their eating intuitively/adaptively. We extended this model by integrating body mass index (BMI) into its structure and…

This paper illustrates an extension of the APIM technique within a path analysis framework by using cross-informant data on the outcome variable. Data for the current study were derived from a sample of young adult heterosexual couples who had been in a romantic relationship for at least four months (N = 115 couples). The findings from the current…

The phenomena of fusion within a lesbian relationship is described in a six-phased model. Fusion in relationships is defined as two incomplete people coming together in an attempt to make one more complete whole, the merging of two ego boundaries. The six phases discussed include ecstacy, getting married, the routine, depression/withdrawal,…

Analyzes the nature of interdependence in ongoing relationships, using an investment model to understand decisions to remain in abusive relationships. Found that feelings of commitment were greater among women who had poorer-quality economic alternatives, were more heavily invested in their relationship, and who experienced less dissatisfaction…

This study examined the factor structure of the Sport Friendship Quality Scale (SFQS; Weiss & Smith, 1999) and compared two models in which (a) self-worth mediated the relationship between physical self/friendship quality and sport commitment and (b) friendship quality and physical self-perceptions directly predicted self-worth and sport…