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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 sexualization and discuss historical change concerning the construct. In the second section, we highlight the role that core values concerning sexuality and gender play in designing and interpreting research on sexualization. In the third section, we provide a conceptual analysis of the various psychological constructs related to sexualization, noting their roots in particular theories. In the fourth section, we discuss developmental issues and, in fifth and sixth sections, we present conceptual models of the antecedents and consequences of believing that sexual attractiveness to men is an important aspect of the female gender role among girls and boys, respectively.

Although it is clear that early adolescents pursue and establish romantic relationships, less is known about the hallmarks of these pairings, even though they are linked to current and future close relationships. Based on adolescent identity formation and identity theory, we used theoretical concepts of roles, role expectations, and role enactments to inform our study. We conducted a series of same-sex and same-age focus groups with sixth and eighth graders and analyzed their responses using a grounded theory approach. We found that early adolescent romantic role enactments could be aggregated into two broad types of experiences. On the one hand, some youth were uncomfortable with interacting with a romantic partner. They often relied on texting as opposed to face-to-face interactions with partners. On the other hand, other early adolescents were more at ease engaging in romantic roles. They spent time interacting with their partners, shared personal information with each other, were physically affectionate, and created boundaries that defined their romantic relationships as different from other close relationships. The findings support our assertion that when early adolescents enact the new role of “romantic partner,” and develop a personal set of role expectations for this role, it requires learning, direct experience, and maturation before they can successfully engage in this role.

Bredow, Cate, and Huston hypothesize that individuals initiate romantic relationships by engaging in four stages—deciding whether another is attractive, whether to approach that person, how best to initiate contact, and how to build rapport once contact is made. It is unclear, however, whether this model applies to early adolescents’ pursuits of romantic relationships. It is equally unclear whether factors that are a large part of adolescents’ lives, specifically peers and electronic communication, play a role when early adolescents initiate romantic contact. To address these lacunas, we conducted same-sex and same-age focus groups with sixth and eighth graders. Using a grounded theory approach, our findings revealed that these youth made strategic choices to be noticed by potential partners; sixth graders engaged in play-like behaviors, eighth grade girls flirted, and eighth grade boys planned ways to cross paths with girls at school. These early adolescents also texted and used peers to see whether their romantic interests were reciprocated. In fact, peers played active roles by helping to evaluate potential partners. Further, friends of sixth graders were frequently a direct physical influence, pushing partners into hugging and holding hands, while friends of eighth graders were frequently a direct social influence, working to join two individuals even when those involved may not have wanted this. Our findings suggest a need to broaden Bredow et al.’s model to include social influences while also showing that early adolescents use peers and electronic messaging to reduce uncertainty when pursuing romantic interests.

Sexually objectifying messages about girls and women are common in U.S. popular culture. As a consequence of exposure to such messages, girls may develop “internalized sexualization,” or internalization of the belief that sexual attractiveness to males is an important aspect of their identity. We hypothesized that internalized sexualization is associated with behavioral and psychological consequences, including sexualized clothing use, body surveillance, and body shame. In two studies of early adolescent girls (total N = 330, age range = 10-15), we found that girls with higher levels of internalized sexualization wear more sexualized clothing (Study 1) and show higher levels of body surveillance and body shame (Study 2) than girls with lower levels of internalized sexualization.

Messages that sexually objectify girls and women are common in popular culture. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that internalization of the notion that women should be sexually attractive to men is associated with decreased academic success and motivation among early adolescent (10- to 15-year-old) girls. In Study 1, girls (n = 91) who scored higher on a measure of internalized sexualization earned lower grades and standardized test scores than their peers. In Study 2 (n = 95), girls who completed a mock newscast prepared differently as a function of internalized sexualization; girls with higher levels of internalized sexualization spent more time applying makeup, and less time practicing the script, than girls with lower levels of internalized sexualization.

Poor fact retrieval is a frequently reported characteristic of children with mathematical learning disability (MLD). To better understand the nature and specificity of poor fact retrieval in MLD, in the present study, we examined eighth graders' accuracy on timed addition and multiplication problems of varying levels of difficulty. We compared the performance of 16 children with deficient math achievement (MLD), 19 children with below average (but not deficient) math achievement (LA), and 100 typically achieving (TA) children. Children in all three groups made errors. Errors made by children in the LA group were more numerous, but comparable in type, to those observed for typically developing children. Errors made by children with MLD were more numerous still, and included errors that differ qualitatively from those in the LA and TA groups. Thus the way in which performance linked to "math difficulties" differs from that of typically achieving children varies as a function of how we define math disabilities (MLD vs. LA). Moreover, the frequency and types of errors made by individuals varied within the MLD group, highlighting group heterogeneity even when using strict criteria to define this group of children. Finally, the types of errors made by children with MLD reflect reliance on processes other than retrieval to solve these alleged "math facts."