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This study investigates responses to, consequences of, and resistance against objectification from the perspectives of sexual minority women in the United States. Data from 5 focus groups with 33 sexual minority women were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results revealed 13 themes and 49 subthemes. First, sexual minority women's responses to objectification included those described in prior research with heterosexual women, as well as novel responses not routinely assessed in prior research (e.g., critical examination), and the complex co-occurrence of responses (e.g., indignation and internalization). Second, participants identified deleterious consequences that were consistent with prior theory and research as well as consequences that reflected resilience and growth from working through objectification. Finally, participants articulated personal, relational, and identity-related forms of resistance against objectification. Sexual and gender identity processes were interwoven with resistance. These results highlight how centering sexual minority women's experiences can both corroborate and advance prior understanding of responses to and consequences of objectification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Research has linked experiences of sexual objectification to body image and eating problems among women. Existing measures of sexual objectification were grounded in heterosexual women's experiences. The present research extends this prior work by centering sexual minority women's experiences to develop and evaluate the Sexual Minority Women's Sexual Objectification Experiences Scale (SMW-SOE). In Study 1, an initial 51 items were developed, drawing on prior qualitative research with sexual minority women and existing measures of sexual objectification experiences. Exploratory factor analysis of 217 sexual minority women's responses to the initial item set suggested an underlying structure of three interrelated factors. In Study 2, data were collected from an independent sample of 201 sexual minority women to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and evaluate validity evidence. Findings from the confirmatory factor analysis supported a higher order solution with three first-order factors. The final scale comprised 17 items: six items assessing Sexualization of Sexual Identity, five items assessing Intrusive and Explicit Sexual Advances, and six items assessing Body Evaluation. In terms of validity, SMW-SOE overall scale scores yielded expected small-to-large positive correlations with heterosexist experiences, internalization of sociocultural appearance standards, and disordered eating; SMW-SOE subscale scores yielded distinctive patterns of correlations. SMW-SOE scale and subscale items yielded acceptable Cronbach's alphas in both samples. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigates sexual minority women's experiences of objectification in the United States. Data from 5 focus groups with 33 sexual minority women were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2012). Results revealed 6 themes and 34 subthemes grouped into "manifestations of objectification: general and explicit intersections," "immediate context of relational and situational characteristics," and "broader context of oppression and privilege along gender and sexualities." First, sexual minority women's experiences of objectification included both general manifestations described in prior research with heterosexual women and manifestations of objectification that reflected intersections of systems of inequality based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, and age. Second, participants identified novel relational and situational characteristics of objectification. Finally, participants included experiences of stereotyping, discrimination, and dehumanization in their conceptualizations of objectification, connecting their experiences of objectification with broader dynamics of power related to gender and sexuality. Centralizing sexual minority women's experiences, this study produced a fuller understanding of objectification experiences in general and of sexual minority women's experiences in particular. (PsycINFO Database Record

This study compared the effectiveness of a skill-based bibliotherapy intervention and a placebo pill intervention purported to be efficacious in increasing women's sexual desire. Forty-five participants were randomized into the two groups after completing pretest measures of sexual desire and functioning. After completing their interventions, participants completed 6-week posttest and 12-week follow-up measures. Results demonstrated that when compared to the placebo pill group, the bibliotherapy group made statistically greater gains from pretest to follow-up in sexual desire and satisfaction. Nevertheless, the placebo pill group evidenced short-term improvements in sexual desire over time. Findings have implications for future research and current treatments for low sexual desire in women.

This study investigated weighing and body-monitoring behaviors, as well as psychological and behavioral reactions to weighing, among female college students. Weighing and body monitoring were engaged in by the majority of participants. Participants changed food intake and exercise based on weight. About 63% reported that the scale number impacts their mood, and 50% and 48% indicated that it impacts their sexual comfort and self-esteem, respectively. Most did not perceive self-weighing to be harmful. College counselors should be aware that weighing and body monitoring are normative, with negative psychological outcomes associated with weighing for a substantive percentage of college women.

Previous research suggests that benevolent sexism is an ideology that perpetuates gender inequality. But despite its negative consequences, benevolent sexism is a prevalent ideology that some even find attractive. To better understand why women and men alike might be motivated to adopt benevolent sexism, the current study tested system justification theory’s prediction that benevolent sexism might have a positive linkage to life satisfaction through increased diffuse system justification, or the sense that the status quo is fair. A structural equation model revealed that benevolent sexism was positively associated with diffuse system justification within a sample of 274 college women and 111 college men. Additionally, benevolent sexism was indirectly associated with life satisfaction for both women and men through diffuse system justification. In contrast, hostile sexism was not related to diffuse system justification or life satisfaction. The results imply that although benevolent sexism perpetuates inequality at the structural level, it might offer some benefits at the personal level. Thus, our findings reinforce the dangerous nature of benevolent sexism and emphasize the need for interventions to reduce its prevalence.

Rest homes have become a major component of the health care system for frail elderly persons and deinstitutionalized psychiatric patients. Although psychoactive medications are frequently used in rest homes, there is little detailed information about the extent of such use, its supervision, or its effects. In a survey of a random sample of 55 rest homes in Massachusetts, we found that 55 percent of the residents were taking at least one psychoactive medication. Antipsychotic medications were being administered to 39 percent; of these, 18 percent were receiving two or more such drugs. In a follow-up investigation, we studied 837 residents in 44 rest homes with particularly high levels of antipsychotic-drug use. About half the residents had no evidence of participation by a physician in decisions about their mental health during the year of the study. A third of the residents had performance deficits on mental-status testing that indicated serious cognitive impairment, although the causal relation ...

Mandated by Congress in 1969,1 Periodic Medical Review (PMR) is a state-run program of external peer review of the care rendered Medicaid-supported patients in skilled-nursing facilities (SNF). In ...