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This study extends the literature on eating disorder symptomatology by testing, based on extant literature on objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. Roberts, 1997) and the role of sociocultural standards of beauty (e.g.. L. J. Heinberg. J. K. Thompson, & S. Stormer, 1995), a model that examines (a) links of reported sexual objectification experiences to eating disorder-related variables and (b) the mediating roles of body surveillance, body shame, and internalization of sociocultural standards of beauty. Consistent with hypotheses, with a sample of 221 young women, support was found for a model in which (a) internalization of sociocultural standards of beauty mediated the links of sexual objectification experiences to body surveillance, body shame, and eating disorder symptoms, (b) body surveillance was an additional mediator of the link of reported sexual objectification experiences to body shame, and (c) body shame mediated the links of internalization and body surveillance to disordered eating.

The current study reexamined the factor structure of the Lifetime and Recent scales of the Schedule of Sexist Events (SSE; Klonoff & Landrine, 1995 ) and conducted the first factor analysis of the SSE-Appraisal scale ( Landrine & Klonoff, 1997 ). Factor analyses conducted with data from 245 women yielded, for SSE-Lifetime and SSE-Appraisal scales, two reliable factors that can be scored as “Intimate and Personal Experiences of Sexist Events” and “Unfair Treatment Across Public Contexts” subscales. Data from the SSE-Recent scale yielded three factors that can be scored as “Sexist Degradation and Its Consequences,” “Unfair and Sexist Events at Work/School,” and “Unfair Treatment in Distant and Close Relationships” subscales. Recommendations are made for the future use of these proposed subscales in conjunction with total scale scores in research using the SSE to examine links between reported experiences of sexist events and women's health and well-being.