Sexual Self-Objectification and Sex-Related Drinking Motives Among College Women: Do Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance Matter?

Recent research has shown that sex-related drinking motives—motivations to drink to cope with sex-related distress or enhance sex—are associated with increased risk for negative sexual consequences. Limited research suggests that difficulties with emotion regulation and distress tolerance as well as self-objectification are associated with increased drinking motives. However, it remains unclear how emotion regulation and distress tolerance influence the relationship between sexual self-objectification (a subset of self-objectification) and sex-related drinking motives in college women. The current study examined main and interactive effects of sexual self-objectification, emotion regulation difficulties, and distress tolerance abilities on both coping and enhancement sex-related drinking motives. College women (N = 351) recruited from four US universities completed a one-time online survey. Results demonstrated that women with greater sexual self-objectification tendencies were more motivated to drink to cope with sex-related distress and to drink to enhance sex. Moreover, the positive association between sexual self-objectification and drinking to cope with sex-related distress motives was strongest for women with high levels of distress tolerance compared to women with low levels of distress tolerance. These findings may help inform the design and implementation of programs on college campuses where alcohol use and risky sexual behavior are prevalent.