Too Cute for School: Self-Sexualization, Media, and Outcomes Among Pre-Adolescent Girls

• In Event: 3-144 - Sexualization in Childhood and Early Adolescence: Associations with Peer Relationships, Academics, and Body Image

Integrative Statement

The current study used objectification theory as a framework to investigate self-sexualization among a sample of 89 young girls, ages 6-9, and their parent. We aimed to take a comprehensive look at early sexualization, investigating self-sexualization’s relationship to self-objectification, weight concerns, academic self-efficacy, and career aspirations. Prior studies have found sexualization to be related to negative body image among girls (Slater & Tiggemann, 2016) and objectification among adult women (Liss, Erchull, & Ramsey, 2011). The present research aimed to further this literature by investigating sexualization’s relationship to objectification among young girls. Additionally, self-sexualization was found to relate to grades among adolescent girls in one study (McKenney & Bigler, 2014) and experimentally, play with a sexualized Barbie doll decreased career self-efficacy among girls (Sherman & Zurbriggen, 2014). This study aimed to explore this topic more in-depth, by examining academic self-efficacy and career cognitions among young girls. Additionally, we asked parents to report their daughter’s performance and enjoyment of school subjects as well as their assessment of their daughter’s ability to reach future academic and career goals. Examining these questions may shed light on outcomes of early sexualization, offering insight into sexualization’s developmental trajectory.

We found that roughly two-thirds of girls in our sample showed signs of early sexualization by either choosing the sexualized doll over the non-sexualized doll as who they preferred to look like (69.6%) and/or who they currently look like (33.7%). Self-sexualization did not differ in terms of age, race, socioeconomic status, or parental education. As expected, girls who showed signs of early sexualization reported significantly higher self-objectification and weight concerns when compared to the rest of the sample. Contrary to our expectations, self-sexualization was unrelated to all three types of self-efficacy we measured: social, emotional, and academic. Additionally, self-sexualization was unrelated to girls’ career confidence and interest. However, as hypothesized, parents of girls who showed signs of early sexualization reported their daughter had significantly lower academic performance and enjoyed school less on average compared to the rest of the sample. Additionally, parents of girls who self-sexualized were significantly less likely to believe their daughters could enter the fields of architecture, engineering, and math and had significantly lower academic expectations.

In sum, self-sexualization was significantly related to self-objectification and weight concerns among 6-9-year-old girls. Unexpectedly, self-sexualization was unrelated to girl’s self-reported self-efficacy. However, it was significantly related to parent’s expectations and assessment of their daughter’s school performance and enjoyment. It is possible that in preadolescence self-sexualization affects girls’ body cognitions and parental expectations, but it has not yet affected girls’ own self-efficacy. This finding has developmental implications for the trajectory of sexualization outcomes. Parents might begin to view daughters who self-sexualize as less academically competent before girls themselves feel less competent. This may occur due to actual aptitude, or potentially due to the stereotype that sexually objectified women and girls are less competent (Daniels & Zurbriggen, 2016; Holland & Haslam, 2016).

Authors

• Christine R. Starr, University of California, Santa Cruz
  Presenting Author

• Eileen Zurbriggen, University of California, Santa Cruz
  Non-Presenting Author