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This study investigates within‐group differences in body image concerns among sexual minority women and their related association with eating disorders and depression. Cross‐sectional data were collected in 2017 and analysed in 2020 from 201 sexual minority women in the United States. Latent profile analyses and post hoc comparison analyses were conducted to investigate within‐group variability in body image concerns and to understand their impact on depressive and eating disorder symptoms. Results suggested that a 5‐class solution best fit the data, with five distinct profiles emerging in patterns of interoceptive awareness, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, body shame, body surveillance and appearance anxiety. Significant differences in mean scores of depressive and eating disorder symptomatology emerged among the profiles; groups that reported low interoceptive awareness and high body image concerns experienced greater levels of eating disorder and depressive symptoms, compared to groups with average or higher levels of interoceptive awareness and average or lower body image concerns. Results underscore the significant within‐group variability that exists for sexual minority women with regard to the prevalence of body image concerns, depressive symptoms and eating disorder symptoms. Efforts that aim to increase interoceptive awareness (for example, mindfulness) alongside strategies aimed at addressing negative body image concerns may be particularly effective avenues for future depression and eating disorder prevention in this diverse group. Our reporting adheres to the STROBE research reporting checklist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this study, we aimed to advance objectification theory research with sexual minority women by examining the understudied roles of appearance anxiety and interoceptive awareness concomitantly with other key variables, including sexual objectification experiences, internalization of cultural appearance standards, body surveillance, and body shame. We also examined depressive symptoms as a criterion variable in addition to eating disorder symptoms. Survey data from 201 sexual minority women were analyzed. Manifest variable path analysis of the hypothesized model explained 35% and 27% of the variance in eating disorder and depressive symptoms, respectively. Results revealed a distinct pattern of cross-sectional direct and indirect relations for eating disorder and depressive symptoms. Specifically, body shame was a key unique correlate of eating disorder symptoms and linked internalization of cultural appearance standards and body surveillance with eating disorder symptoms. Appearance anxiety was a key unique correlate of depressive symptoms and linked internalization of cultural appearance standards and body surveillance with depressive symptoms. Sexual objectification experiences and interoceptive awareness generally did not yield significant unique direct or indirect relations in the model. These findings suggest distinct and complementary points of intervention to mitigate eating disorder and depressive symptoms for sexual minority women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on psychological factors related to female sexual functioning has been growing in recent years. Our study draws on the existing sexual health literature and objectification theory to test a model of female sexual functioning. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the associations of body surveillance and internalization of cultural standards of beauty with appearance anxiety, depression, and sexual health (i.e., physical sexual functioning and subjective sexual well-being) in a sample of 426 sexually active, heterosexual, cisgender women. Further, we investigated the role of depression and appearance anxiety as mediators of the associations of body surveillance and internalization of cultural standards of beauty with sexual health. Our findings contribute to the growing body of empirical research that examines the role of sociocultural and psychological factors in female sexual functioning. Results suggest that depression and appearance anxiety fully mediated the relations of body surveillance with sexual well-being. However, internalization of cultural standards of beauty was not significant with any study outcomes. These findings expand on existing objectification theory literature by elucidating the associations of body surveillance and internalization of cultural standards of beauty with sexual functioning as well as by highlighting the importance of attending to body image, appearance anxiety, and depression when working clinically with women reporting concerns with their sexual functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]