Can’t go with the flow: Self-objectification, body surveillance, and exercise flow state for young women in college

Objective: This study tested a model investigating relationships between self-objectification, body surveillance, flow, and exercise enjoyment in college women. Participants: The sample consisted of 101 college women (age range 18-23, 60.4% White/Caucasian) attending a public university in the northeast. Methods: Participants answered survey questions before and after a 15-min exercise session on a stationary bike. Assessed measures included self-objectification, motivations for exercise, focus on calories, body surveillance, flow, and exercise enjoyment. Results: Findings indicated that self-objectification was positively related to appearance-related exercise motivations, which were positively related to amount of focus on calories while exercising. Focusing on calories was positively related to body surveillance during an exercise session. Body surveillance was negatively related to experience of flow, and flow was positively related to enjoyment of the exercise session. Conclusions: The results offer theoretical insight into the mechanisms by which self-objectification undermines flow and enjoyment for college women.