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This study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) and objectification. Specifically, the associations between psychological and physical abuse and self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame for college women were considered through the lens of objectification theory. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, bivariate correlations showed that more psychological abuse was associated with more self-objectification, more body surveillance, and more body shame. As well, more physical abuse was associated with more body surveillance and more body shame. However, when the unique effects of psychological and physical abuse were considered in a path model, the links between psychological abuse and objectification remained while the links between physical abuse and objectification became nonsignificant. In addition, consistent with Hypothesis 2 and the model proposed by objectification theory, body surveillance and the combined effect of self-objectification and body surveillance explained relations between psychological abuse and body shame. This work fills an important gap in the current literature because it is the only study to date that examines relations between both psychological and physical abuse and self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The purpose of this research was to conduct a replication-based and extension study examining the effectiveness of a 5-week career group counseling intervention, Advancing Career Counseling and Employment Support for Survivors (ACCESS; Chronister, 2008). The present study was conducted in a markedly different geographic region within a larger community as compared with the original investigation conducted by Chronister and McWhirter (2006). Women survivors of intimate partner violence (N = 73) participated in ACCESS, with career-search self-efficacy, perceived career barriers, perceived career supports, anxiety, and depression assessed at preintervention, postintervention, and 8-week follow-up. Women survivors demonstrated significant improvements in career-search self-efficacy and perceived career barriers at postintervention. Moreover, these same improvements were maintained at the 8-week follow-up assessment with the addition of significant improvements in perceived future financial supports, anxiety, and depression compared with preintervention scores. This work replicates the initial findings regarding the effectiveness of ACCESS with respect to career-search self-efficacy (Chronister & McWhirter, 2006) as well as extends the initial research to include improvements in perceived career barriers and perceived career supports. Moreover, the present study extends the work to include the mental health outcomes of anxiety and depression; results demonstrated improvements in these areas at 8-week follow-up. This investigation begins to fill a critical need for evaluated career-focused interventions for the underserved population of women survivors of intimate partner violence.