ABSTRACT

Objective: The present research intended to find the association among emotional maturity, self objectification, and psychological distress in Pakistani women. It also aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-objectification between emotional maturity and psychological distress.
Study Design: Correlational research.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Department of Clinical Psychology, Riphah Institute of Clinical and Professional Psychology Lahore, Pakistan from March 2020 to June 2020.
Methods: A sample of 153 women was recruited from all over Pakistan and data was collected through an online Google Forms link. The emotional maturity scale, objectified body consciousness scale, depression
anxiety stress scale, and demographic sheet were used for assessing the target study variables. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to measure the strength of a linear association.
Results: Emotional maturity has a significant positive correlation with psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). Moreover, self-objectification (surveillance and body shame) was significantly positively
related to psychological distress (depression, anxiety, stress). Hierarchal regression analysis indicated that emotional maturity is significant predictor of depression (β=0.78, P-value < 0.001), anxiety (β=0.68, P-value <0.001), and stress (β=0.69, P-value < 0.001) whereas self-objectification- body shame only serves as significant predictor of stress (β=0.19, P<.01).
Conclusion: Findings revealed that emotional maturity and self-objectification were significantly positively correlated with psychological distress. It was observed that emotional maturity predicts psychological distress (depression, anxiety, stress). Whereas, the self-objectification subscale (body shame) predicts psychological distress (stress). Moreover, body shame mediates the relationship between emotional maturity and psychological distress (stress).

Keywords: Body Image, Mental Health, Psychological Maturity, Psychological Distress, Stress, Self-Concept.

How to cite this: Malik KT, Rana H, Ashraf R, Tariq I. Mediating Role of Self-Objectification between Emotional Maturity and Psychological Distress in Pakistani Women. Life and Science. 2024; 5(3): 362-368. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.479