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Presented By: Department of Psychology

Developmental Area Brown Bag -

Bernice Castillo, School of Social Work and Doctoral Candidate Developmental Psychlogy and Petal Grower, Doctoral Candidate in Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan

PETAL GROWER
Title: The power of positivity: Body appreciation and sexual agency amount young adult women

Abstract: Although numerous studies demonstrate associations between negative body image and sexual health, recent research has emphasized studying the positive aspects of these constructs. Despite the emergence of this new area of research, few studies have examined the association between body appreciation and more holistic measures of sexual agency. The current study tested a direct effects model assessing the predictive power of body appreciation on sexual agency among a national sample of 497 women aged 18-40 (M age = 31.02; 76% White). This study also examined whether body appreciation predicts sexual agency above and beyond well-established measures of self-objectification and whether chronological age moderated these associations. Regression results demonstrated that high levels of body appreciation predicted high levels of condom use self-efficacy, sexual satisfaction, sexual assertiveness, and feelings of entitlement to sexual pleasure and low levels of body image self-consciousness during intimacy. These findings emerged even when both self-objectification and body appreciation were entered simultaneously into the model. Chronological age did not moderate any of the observed associations between objectification or body appreciation and sexual agency, with one exception. Older women engaged in more body surveillance than younger women, which in turn predicted higher levels of body image self-consciousness for these women. The results of this study suggest body appreciation is a unique construct apart from negative body image, and highlight the importance of studying how body appreciation fosters women’s sense of sexual agency.

Bio: Petal Grower is currently a third year PhD candidate in Developmental Psychology. She received a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Human Development at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Currently, her work examines the associations between body image and young women’s sexual agency, with additional interest in media and self-objectification. Moving forward, she plans to study the reciprocal relations between pubertal timing and tempo with sexualized media exposure and self-sexualization under the Developmental Training Grant.

BERENICE CASTILLO
Title: Adolescence: A potential 'sensitive period' for risk and protective factors

Abstract: Adolescent substance use is a major public health concern in the US. Alcohol and marijuana are the two most common substances used by adolescents. While scholars have identified risk and protective factors associated with adolescent substance use behavior, little is known about potential variation in how risk and protective factors relate to adolescent substance use at different ages. For my 619 project, I used a nationally representative sample of 8th and 10th graders from the Monitoring the Future project to address two aims: first to examine how an array of risk and protective factors relate, collectively, with adolescent binge drinking and marijuana use, and second, to apply a developmental perspective to adolescent substance use and examine whether the relationships of risk and protective factors of binge drinking and marijuana use differ between 8th and 10th graders. The results of my 619 suggest that risk and protective factors, for the most part, relate to binge drinking and marijuana use similarly between 8th and 10th graders with the exception of parental academic involvement, time spent with peers, and sensation seeking behavior. These findings speak to the need for sensitivity to developmental age as important for tailored and targeted interventions of adolescent substance use.


Bio: Berenice Castillo is a third-year PhD student in the joint Social Work and Developmental Psychology program, working with Drs. John Schulenberg and Andy Grogan-Kaylor. She received a BA in Psychology with a minor in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she worked in the Identity and Transitions lab studying the role of mentorship in first generation college students’ academic achievement and adjustment during the transition to college. She also received a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California where she worked in the Building Capacity lab, studying the efficacy of school-level programs targeting the well-being of military-connected children. Her more recent work explores how risk and protective factors relate to adolescents’ health and well-being, particularly among ethnic/racial minorities and underrepresented populations.

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