FEMINIST CONTRIBUTIONS TO HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

A brief review of health psychology shows that the early leadership began what has come to be a major alternative to traditional medical models of diagnosis and treatment. Numerous women were involved with these implementations and changes in the field. Many of the key developments within health psychology—for example, behavioral prevention, compliance, coping, health promotion, locus of control, and social support—reflect essentially feminist principles that emphasize the legitimate authority and significance of the individual. Feminist principles of equity and inclusiveness are also represented in emerging concerns that the health needs of many underprivileged groups deserve more focused attention, and, additionally, that entirely new areas of health can be profitably examined within the framework of health psychology.     

The Effects of Weight and Achievement Messages on the Self-Esteem of Women

We examined whether priming achievement causes lower self-esteem and more negative mood in women who believe they are overweight and 0whether it does so by increasing women's dissatisfaction with their bodies or with their performance. Thirty-five self-perceived overweight women and 43 self-perceived normal weight women participated in the experiment. Half of the women read a message stressing the importance of achievement pursuits, and the other half read a message stressing the importance of nonachievement pursuits. All women then completed a measure of global self-esteem, read a message about the negative effects of being overweight, and completed several dependent measures. Controlling for initial self-esteem, overweight women who read the achievement prime had lower mood and global self-esteem and lower performance self-esteem but not lower appearance self-esteem or greater body dissatisfaction when compared to the overweight women who read the nonachievement prime and the normal weight women regardless of prime type.