In the present study, we extend prior research on objectification theory by integrating fear of rape into a mediation model predicting depression in college women. With a sample of 496 U.S. college women 18–37 years-old, we examined three aspects of fear of rape (taking rape precautions, safety concerns, and fear of men), along with body shame and appearance anxiety, as potential mediators in the linkage of interpersonal sexual objectification through body surveillance to depression. We found that sexual objectification was associated with more body surveillance, which in turn was related to more body shame, greater appearance anxiety, more rape precautions, greater safety concerns, and more fear of men. Body shame, appearance anxiety, and fear of men were related to more depression whereas taking rape precautions was related to less depression and safety concerns was not related to depression. Direct relations between sexual objectification and depression, body shame, and the three aspects of fear of rape also emerged. A majority of indirect effects was also significant. Our results suggest that women’s fear of rape is an additional explanatory variable in understanding how interpersonal sexual objectification is related to women’s mental health concerns.

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人际性物化、对强奸的恐惧和美国大学女性的抑郁症

在本研究中，我们通过将强奸恐惧纳入预测大学女性抑郁症的中介模型，扩展了先前对客观化理论的研究。我们以 496 名 18-37 岁的美国大学女性为样本，研究了害怕强奸的三个方面（采取强奸预防措施、安全问题和对男性的恐惧），以及身体羞耻和外表焦虑，作为潜在的中介因素通过身体监视将人际性对象化与抑郁症联系起来。我们发现，性物化与更多的身体监视有关，而这又与更多的身体羞耻感、更大的外表焦虑、更多的强奸预防措施、更多的安全问题以及对男性的更多恐惧有关。身体羞耻，外表焦虑，对男性的恐惧与更多的抑郁症有关，而采取强奸预防措施与更少的抑郁症有关，安全问题与抑郁症无关。性对象化与抑郁、身体羞耻和害怕强奸三个方面之间的直接关系也出现了。大多数间接影响也很显着。我们的结果表明，女性对强奸的恐惧是理解人际性物化与女性心理健康问题之间的关系的额外解释变量。