(PS10-69) From Vulnerability to Violence: Effects of Depression and Adherence to Traditional Gender Norms on Sexual Objectification

Abstract Text: Men who experience depressive symptoms are at increased risk for aggression (Dutton & Karakanta, 2013). One putative mechanism of this effect involves masculinity. Research demonstrates that depression is associated with feelings of vulnerability (Emslie et al., 2006), which contradict traditional masculine ideals and may engender masculinity threat (Krumm et al., 2017). Precarious manhood theory posits that men can experience distress when their masculinity is threatened, which motivates displays of masculine behavior to alleviate distress and restore manhood (Vandello & Bosson, 2013). Consistent with this view, research indicates that some men engage in masculine activities to cope with depression (Valkonen & Hänninen, 2012). A prevalent strategy for reasserting masculine identity is the sexual objectification of women, which reinforces gender-based social dominance (Dahl et al., 2015). Sexual objectification can range from “minor” offenses, such as gazing at or making comments about women’s bodies, to more severe acts of forcing unwanted sexual experiences (Gervais et al., 2018). Despite extensive literature on the role of masculinity in men’s experience of depression (Seidler et al., 2016), studies have not examined their interactive effects on sexual objectification behaviors. The central premise of this study is that men’s perception of depression-related vulnerabilities as a masculinity threat increases risk for sexual objectification of women. As such, the present study examined the moderating effect of traditional gender ideology on the relation between depression and sexual objectification. Participants were 667 men, aged of 21-25, who completed validated self-report measures of depressive symptoms, hypergender ideology, and three manifestations of sexual objectification (unwanted explicit sexual advances (UESA), body comments (BC), and body gazing (BG)). The UESA and BC subscales were positively skewed, thus negative binomial regression was used to analyze these subscales; linear regression was used to analyze the BG subscale. Main effects of hypergender ideology were found across all three subscales, with positive associations for UESA (b = .049, p = .007), BC (b = 0.107, p < .001), and BG (b = 1.33, p < .001). Additionally, a main effect of depression (b = 0.620, p = .006) on BG was observed. A significant interaction was detected for UESA (b = .039 p = 0.038), such that depression was positively associated with UESA among men who endorsed higher (b = 0.010, p = .019), but not lower (b = -0.002, p = .541), hypergender ideology. The present study contributes new data regarding how depression and adherence to masculine role norms may increase men’s risk for sexual objectification. Consistent with the premise that depression-related vulnerabilities pose a threat to masculinity, findings indicate that depressive symptoms are more strongly associated with engaging in more severe forms of sexual objectification among men who adhere more rigidly to traditional masculine gender norms. Overall, results suggest that interventions for depression that target hypergender ideology may be particularly effective in mitigating the risk of more severe forms of sexual objectification.