The influence of bystander presence on evaluations of public breastfeeding among adults in the United States

BACKGROUND

In general, people tend to support private breastfeeding more than public breastfeeding, and discomfort surrounding public breastfeeding may contribute to sub-optimal rates of breastfeeding in the United States. Few studies have systematically examined situational factors that contribute to (negative) reactions to public breastfeeding. It is unclear whether the physical location or the presence of others is more influential in shaping people's evaluations of public breastfeeding. This study aimed to experimentally investigate the influence of location, bystander presence, bystander gender, and the breastfeeding woman's use of a cover on people's evaluations of breastfeeding images.

METHOD

A sample of adults residing in the United States was randomly assigned to view an image of a breastfeeding woman in an experimental study that examined four independent variables: breastfeeding location (public vs. private), bystander presence (present vs. not present), gender of bystander (male vs. female), and use of a cover (cover vs. no cover). Participants then reported their emotional reactions to, perceptions of, and behavioral intentions toward the breastfeeding woman. In addition, participants completed measures of sexism, traditional gender role endorsement, sexual comfort, body gaze, and breastfeeding knowledge and experience.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regressions revealed no differences between private and public breastfeeding images. Perceptions of the breastfeeding woman were more favorable when she was alone than with others, and when she was covered than when she was not covered. Evaluations tended to be more favorable among participants who scored lower on hostile sexism, higher on benevolent sexism, higher on sexual comfort, and higher on breastfeeding knowledge.

CONCLUSION

The presence of bystanders may be more consequential than the physical location in shaping reactions to public breastfeeding. These findings can be applied to improve support for public breastfeeding, which may contribute to higher breastfeeding rates and the associated public health benefits.

The influence of disordered eating and social media's portrayals of pregnancy on young women's attitudes toward pregnancy

BACKGROUND

Given the heightened emphasis on physical appearance and the prevalence of social media in young women, they are particularly vulnerable to experiencing negative body image and disordered eating. Therefore, modified social media portrayals of pregnancy could cause young women to have negative attitudes toward a potential pregnancy and subsequently not properly utilize care and resources. The present study examined the influence of disordered eating and modified portrayals of pregnancy on young women's attitudes toward a potential pregnancy and various feelings associated with pregnancy.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 154 women aged 18-30, who were given the Eating-Attitudes Test-26, randomly shown either modified or unmodified social media portrayals of pregnancy, then given the Attitudes Toward Potential Pregnancy Scale and the Gestational Weight Gain Psychosocial Risk Assessment Tool.

RESULTS

A series of hierarchal regressions revealed that there were no significant main effects or interactions for young women's attitudes toward potential pregnancy. However, women who viewed modified portrayals of pregnancy had higher self-efficacy, and women with higher levels of disordered eating had lower self-efficacy, more positive attitudes toward gestational weight gain, and lower current body image satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

These results highlight the myriad of different attitudes that young women have toward a potential pregnancy and how these attitudes are influenced by disordered eating and social media. Our findings can be used for educating caregivers and implementing intervention strategies for women.

Perceptions of a Hypothetical Sexual Assault: The Impact of the Interrelationships Between Eight Situational Factors

The current research examined the interactions between various factors that contribute to perceptions of a woman's sexual assault. Participants read a vignette about an assault in which we varied eight factors. We assessed the impact of these factors and their interactions on participants' perceptions of the assault. Participants' perceptions were more driven by the characteristics of the victim rather than the perpetrator. The factor that had the most overall impact on perceptions of the sexual assault was whether the victim explicitly agreed to go to the perpetrator's home. Implications of our results are discussed in various contexts.

It’s just a breast: an examination of the effects of sexualization, sexism, and breastfeeding familiarity on evaluations of public breastfeeding

Background

Despite the legal right to breastfeed in public, women may be concerned about negative reactions from others, which may in turn impact their decision to breastfeed in public. The current study examined whether women breastfeeding in public (e.g., at a coffee shop) would be evaluated differently than women breastfeeding in private (e.g., at home) and explored several explanations for the possible differences: sexualization of the female breast (including the perceivers’ gender and sexual comfort level, as well as the exposure of the breast while breastfeeding), sexist attitudes, and familiarity with breastfeeding.

Methods

In August 2018, 506 adult participants, residing in the United States and recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, were randomly assigned to view an image of a woman breastfeeding (or not) while wearing a cover (or not), in a private or public location. Participants then completed measures of their emotional responses, perceptions, and behavioral intentions toward the woman in the image as well as their sexual comfort level, hostile and benevolent sexism, and knowledge of and experience with breastfeeding.

Results

People had more favorable evaluations of breastfeeding (vs. non-breastfeeding) women, especially when they had greater sexual comfort, were more knowledgeable about breastfeeding, and were parents with at least one child who was breastfed. The location (public vs. private) and the presence or absence of a cover did not differentially influence evaluations of breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women, nor did participants’ gender or level of sexist attitudes.

Conclusions

In general, people’s evaluations of breastfeeding appear to be favorable to the degree that the location of the breastfeeding is not particularly relevant to those evaluations.

The Sexual Double Standard in the Real World

Abstract. The sexual double standard (SDS) has traditionally been studied by examining evaluations of hypothetical targets. Although much knowledge has been gained regarding the SDS by using this methodology, the literature thus far has suffered from a lack of ecological validity. The goal of the present study was to determine whether the SDS emerged in evaluations of participants’ real-life friends and acquaintances. Participants ( n = 4,455) evaluated a single, randomly assigned male or female friend or acquaintance whose sexual history they were familiar with. Women were evaluated more negatively as their number of sexual partners increased, whereas number of partners was not related to evaluations of men. The SDS was not moderated by the closeness of the relationship between the participant and the target person.

Gender Role Violations and the Sexual Double Standard

The sexual double standard (SDS) suggests that women are evaluated negatively and men positively for engaging in similar sexual behaviors. According to social role theory, the SDS exists due to gender role structures. Consequently, perceived violations of women's sexual behavior are associated with the SDS. In addition to gender role violations of sexual behavior, two additional violations of gender roles exist: heterosexual sexual orientation norms and gender role characteristics. The current study aims to investigate whether the SDS persists for sexual orientation-violating and gender role characteristic-violating targets, and to examine which of the three gender role violations influence evaluations of others' sexual behavior. A U.S. sample of 483 participants evaluated target individuals who were either female or male, heterosexual/gay man or lesbian, feminine or masculine, and had 1 or 12 sexual partners. Results indicate that SDS persists for gender role-violating targets but is exhibited differently for targets violating heterosexual sexual orientation norms and gender role characteristics.