Mary Lynn Damhorst
Biographic Data
| ID | 221196 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mary Lynn Damhorst |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mary Lynn |
| FAMILY NAME | Damhorst |
| SIGNATURE | DAMHORST M L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Iowa State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4379-5566 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Identities in transition
The purpose of this research was to examine identities of female motorcycle riders who have purchased or acquired Harley-Davidson (H-D) apparel or accessories, their relationship to the H-D subculture of consumption (HDSOC) and use of H-D products such as apparel within and outside the SOC. An inductive, qualitative, grounded theory approach was employed. Purposive and snowball sampling resulted in a sample of 23 female riders who owned H-D brand…
Breaking cover
Non-stigmatizing depictions of plus-size lovers of fashion are not easily found in traditional mass media, but in social media, fat fashion enthusiasts can readily be found. The purpose of this study was to investigate the little-studied phenomenon of plus-size YouTube content creators who make videos about fat fashion. To that end, thirteen individuals who wear plus-size women’s apparel took part in semi-structured interviews. A major theme foun…
Women’s body image throughout the adult life span
Based on the life course perspective, this study used a mixed method approach to (1) arrive at a deeper understanding of body image in each of three adult life stages among older white women living in a Midwest state of the United States of America, (2) investigate how these women’s body images have changed during aging, and (3) identify major life transitions affecting women’s body image throughout the adult life span. This study used retrospect…
Stories We Wear
The purpose of this study was to explore why consumers wear and repair Patagonia brand apparel, thus extending the lifespan of the apparel beyond a typical period of consumption. Using a qualitative case study, we examined Patagonia’s “Stories We Wear” blog posts from 2015 to 2017. Six emergent themes were identified as consumers’ motivation to engage in sustainability practices of repairing and extending the use of Patagonia brand apparel. The f…
Social Support for Women Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery
We explored the role that social support plays in the lives of women who have undergone bariatric surgery. We conducted in-depth interviews with 13 women who had had bariatric surgery ( M age = 53.0 years) and analyzed the data using constant comparison processes. We found that individuals in participants' lives offered support by acting as role models and providing information, offering empathy and expressions of concern and caring, assisting wi…
Influence of Multiple Age Identities on Social Comparison, Body Satisfaction, and Appearance Self‐Discrepancy for Women across the Life Span
The purpose of this study was to examine how multiple age identities—chronological, ideal, and feel ages—influence social comparison with media images, body satisfaction, and appearance self‐discrepancy. Building on the possible selves theory that a closer approximation between chronological age and subjective ages—ideal age and feel age—occurs over time, a conceptual model was tested to identify individual variations of age identities and self‐p…
The Impact of Body Image on Consumers’ Perceptions of Idealized Advertising Images and Brand Attitudes
The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals’ body images influence their attitude toward an apparel brand through their perceptions of attractiveness and similarity with thin-idealized and nonidealized advertising images in the social comparison process. Data were collected from 143 female college students at a Midwestern university using a Web-based survey. Exposure to thin models did not induce more favorable brand attitudes than e…
Body Satisfaction and Attitude Theory
Reasoned action theory is adapted to study the influence of body satisfaction and subjective norm (the role of others) on behavioral intention and behavior to change the body. Data are collected from 301 female undergraduate students. Causal model analyses are conducted by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL 8.72. Overall, fit of the model is highly adequate. Participants who have high body satisfaction scores are less likely t…
Attachment to “Place” and Coping with Losses in Changed Communities
This article explores the meaning of place and connection to location among aging adults in America's Heartland. Focus groups were conducted in a rural and urban county with participants age 65 to 84 years, and age 85 years and older. A keen sense of place among participants was revealed, poignantly portrayed as “loss” among rural participants who described changes to the landscape, economic restructuring, and the loss of farming as a way of life…
Rural Consumers' Attitudes toward the Internet for Information Search and Product Purchase
Rogers's innovation diffusion theory guided this research on rural consumers' attitudes toward using the Internet for product information search and purchase of consumer products. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of hands‐on trial of retail Web sites on attitudes toward Internet shopping. The sample included 258 rural consumers who had not previously used the Internet to make a product purchase. Demographic variables were relat…
Constructing and Deconstructing the Body Malleable through Mother-Daughter Interactions
This interpretive study explores how mothers and their adolescent daughters respond to and interact about the body malleable ideology, or cultural discourses that normalize thinness and promote the body as changeable. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed two responses to the body malleable ideology-the acceptance or rejection of the body as a malleable object. Participants expre…
Mothers and Daughters
The interpretive study reported in this article focused on the process by which mothers and daughters interact about body and dieting. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Constant comparison analysis of data revealed four patterns of mother-daughter interaction about body and dieting: (a) the direct verbal approach, including encouragement/facilitation, dissuasion, and fault-finding messages; (b) the…
Dieting among Adolescent Girls and Their Mothers
This interpretive study focused on mothers' and their adolescent daughters' diet‐related thoughts and behaviors and explored the possibility that daughters model their mothers' patterns. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed that mothers'diet‐related experiences were complex, varying across the life span. Among daughters, three types of dieters emerged: nondieters; sho…
Gender Role Orientation of Divorced Women as Related to Body Satisfaction and Interest in Work Clothing
This study examined whether divorced women's gender role orientation is related to interest in work clothing and satisfaction with physical appearance. Extremely non-traditional divorced women showed greater concerns about modesty and less interest in looking sexually attractive in their work dress. Divorced women's marital experience was found to be related to body satisfaction and interest in work clothing. The relationships among marital exper…
A Grounded Theory Model of the Ideal Business Image for Women
Recent changes in women's business identities present an opportunity to explore the social meanings conveyed by dress in a specific and changing context. Using a grounded theory approach, interview data from twenty-four business women were analyzed for recurrent themes. These women felt they could choose from a variety of dress images in order to express appropriate or socially acceptable meanings, including credibility and competence in business…
Use of Symbols for Defining a Role
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cyclists at different levels of involvement in the sport differ in their use of cycling clothing for role definition A social psychological model provides the theoretical framework for the study of 56 female bicyclists. Lower involved cyclists did not show a tendency to use dress to compensate for lack of achievement in the sport role. In addition, no differences were found between higher involve…
Attachment to “Place” and Coping with Losses in Changed Communities
This article explores the meaning of place and connection to location among aging adults in America's Heartland. Focus groups were conducted in a rural and urban county with participants age 65 to 84 years, and age 85 years and older. A keen sense of place among participants was revealed, poignantly portrayed as “loss” among rural participants who described changes to the landscape, economic restructuring, and the loss of farming as a way of life…
Use of Symbols for Defining a Role
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cyclists at different levels of involvement in the sport differ in their use of cycling clothing for role definition A social psychological model provides the theoretical framework for the study of 56 female bicyclists. Lower involved cyclists did not show a tendency to use dress to compensate for lack of achievement in the sport role. In addition, no differences were found between higher involve…
Mothers and Daughters
The interpretive study reported in this article focused on the process by which mothers and daughters interact about body and dieting. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Constant comparison analysis of data revealed four patterns of mother-daughter interaction about body and dieting: (a) the direct verbal approach, including encouragement/facilitation, dissuasion, and fault-finding messages; (b) the…
Social Support for Women Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery
We explored the role that social support plays in the lives of women who have undergone bariatric surgery. We conducted in-depth interviews with 13 women who had had bariatric surgery ( M age = 53.0 years) and analyzed the data using constant comparison processes. We found that individuals in participants' lives offered support by acting as role models and providing information, offering empathy and expressions of concern and caring, assisting wi…
Dieting among Adolescent Girls and Their Mothers
This interpretive study focused on mothers' and their adolescent daughters' diet‐related thoughts and behaviors and explored the possibility that daughters model their mothers' patterns. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed that mothers'diet‐related experiences were complex, varying across the life span. Among daughters, three types of dieters emerged: nondieters; sho…
Body Satisfaction and Attitude Theory
Reasoned action theory is adapted to study the influence of body satisfaction and subjective norm (the role of others) on behavioral intention and behavior to change the body. Data are collected from 301 female undergraduate students. Causal model analyses are conducted by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL 8.72. Overall, fit of the model is highly adequate. Participants who have high body satisfaction scores are less likely t…
Constructing and Deconstructing the Body Malleable through Mother-Daughter Interactions
This interpretive study explores how mothers and their adolescent daughters respond to and interact about the body malleable ideology, or cultural discourses that normalize thinness and promote the body as changeable. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed two responses to the body malleable ideology-the acceptance or rejection of the body as a malleable object. Participants expre…
Stories We Wear
The purpose of this study was to explore why consumers wear and repair Patagonia brand apparel, thus extending the lifespan of the apparel beyond a typical period of consumption. Using a qualitative case study, we examined Patagonia’s “Stories We Wear” blog posts from 2015 to 2017. Six emergent themes were identified as consumers’ motivation to engage in sustainability practices of repairing and extending the use of Patagonia brand apparel. The f…
Influence of Multiple Age Identities on Social Comparison, Body Satisfaction, and Appearance Self‐Discrepancy for Women across the Life Span
The purpose of this study was to examine how multiple age identities—chronological, ideal, and feel ages—influence social comparison with media images, body satisfaction, and appearance self‐discrepancy. Building on the possible selves theory that a closer approximation between chronological age and subjective ages—ideal age and feel age—occurs over time, a conceptual model was tested to identify individual variations of age identities and self‐p…
The Impact of Body Image on Consumers’ Perceptions of Idealized Advertising Images and Brand Attitudes
The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals’ body images influence their attitude toward an apparel brand through their perceptions of attractiveness and similarity with thin-idealized and nonidealized advertising images in the social comparison process. Data were collected from 143 female college students at a Midwestern university using a Web-based survey. Exposure to thin models did not induce more favorable brand attitudes than e…
A Grounded Theory Model of the Ideal Business Image for Women
Recent changes in women's business identities present an opportunity to explore the social meanings conveyed by dress in a specific and changing context. Using a grounded theory approach, interview data from twenty-four business women were analyzed for recurrent themes. These women felt they could choose from a variety of dress images in order to express appropriate or socially acceptable meanings, including credibility and competence in business…
Use of Symbols for Defining a Role
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cyclists at different levels of involvement in the sport differ in their use of cycling clothing for role definition A social psychological model provides the theoretical framework for the study of 56 female bicyclists. Lower involved cyclists did not show a tendency to use dress to compensate for lack of achievement in the sport role. In addition, no differences were found between higher involve…
A Grounded Theory Model of the Ideal Business Image for Women
Recent changes in women's business identities present an opportunity to explore the social meanings conveyed by dress in a specific and changing context. Using a grounded theory approach, interview data from twenty-four business women were analyzed for recurrent themes. These women felt they could choose from a variety of dress images in order to express appropriate or socially acceptable meanings, including credibility and competence in business…
Gender Role Orientation of Divorced Women as Related to Body Satisfaction and Interest in Work Clothing
This study examined whether divorced women's gender role orientation is related to interest in work clothing and satisfaction with physical appearance. Extremely non-traditional divorced women showed greater concerns about modesty and less interest in looking sexually attractive in their work dress. Divorced women's marital experience was found to be related to body satisfaction and interest in work clothing. The relationships among marital exper…
Dieting among Adolescent Girls and Their Mothers
This interpretive study focused on mothers' and their adolescent daughters' diet‐related thoughts and behaviors and explored the possibility that daughters model their mothers' patterns. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed that mothers'diet‐related experiences were complex, varying across the life span. Among daughters, three types of dieters emerged: nondieters; sho…
Mothers and Daughters
The interpretive study reported in this article focused on the process by which mothers and daughters interact about body and dieting. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Constant comparison analysis of data revealed four patterns of mother-daughter interaction about body and dieting: (a) the direct verbal approach, including encouragement/facilitation, dissuasion, and fault-finding messages; (b) the…
Rural Consumers' Attitudes toward the Internet for Information Search and Product Purchase
Rogers's innovation diffusion theory guided this research on rural consumers' attitudes toward using the Internet for product information search and purchase of consumer products. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of hands‐on trial of retail Web sites on attitudes toward Internet shopping. The sample included 258 rural consumers who had not previously used the Internet to make a product purchase. Demographic variables were relat…
Constructing and Deconstructing the Body Malleable through Mother-Daughter Interactions
This interpretive study explores how mothers and their adolescent daughters respond to and interact about the body malleable ideology, or cultural discourses that normalize thinness and promote the body as changeable. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed two responses to the body malleable ideology-the acceptance or rejection of the body as a malleable object. Participants expre…
Attachment to “Place” and Coping with Losses in Changed Communities
This article explores the meaning of place and connection to location among aging adults in America's Heartland. Focus groups were conducted in a rural and urban county with participants age 65 to 84 years, and age 85 years and older. A keen sense of place among participants was revealed, poignantly portrayed as “loss” among rural participants who described changes to the landscape, economic restructuring, and the loss of farming as a way of life…
Body Satisfaction and Attitude Theory
Reasoned action theory is adapted to study the influence of body satisfaction and subjective norm (the role of others) on behavioral intention and behavior to change the body. Data are collected from 301 female undergraduate students. Causal model analyses are conducted by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL 8.72. Overall, fit of the model is highly adequate. Participants who have high body satisfaction scores are less likely t…
The Impact of Body Image on Consumers’ Perceptions of Idealized Advertising Images and Brand Attitudes
The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals’ body images influence their attitude toward an apparel brand through their perceptions of attractiveness and similarity with thin-idealized and nonidealized advertising images in the social comparison process. Data were collected from 143 female college students at a Midwestern university using a Web-based survey. Exposure to thin models did not induce more favorable brand attitudes than e…
Influence of Multiple Age Identities on Social Comparison, Body Satisfaction, and Appearance Self‐Discrepancy for Women across the Life Span
The purpose of this study was to examine how multiple age identities—chronological, ideal, and feel ages—influence social comparison with media images, body satisfaction, and appearance self‐discrepancy. Building on the possible selves theory that a closer approximation between chronological age and subjective ages—ideal age and feel age—occurs over time, a conceptual model was tested to identify individual variations of age identities and self‐p…
Social Support for Women Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery
We explored the role that social support plays in the lives of women who have undergone bariatric surgery. We conducted in-depth interviews with 13 women who had had bariatric surgery ( M age = 53.0 years) and analyzed the data using constant comparison processes. We found that individuals in participants' lives offered support by acting as role models and providing information, offering empathy and expressions of concern and caring, assisting wi…
Stories We Wear
The purpose of this study was to explore why consumers wear and repair Patagonia brand apparel, thus extending the lifespan of the apparel beyond a typical period of consumption. Using a qualitative case study, we examined Patagonia’s “Stories We Wear” blog posts from 2015 to 2017. Six emergent themes were identified as consumers’ motivation to engage in sustainability practices of repairing and extending the use of Patagonia brand apparel. The f…
Women’s body image throughout the adult life span
Based on the life course perspective, this study used a mixed method approach to (1) arrive at a deeper understanding of body image in each of three adult life stages among older white women living in a Midwest state of the United States of America, (2) investigate how these women’s body images have changed during aging, and (3) identify major life transitions affecting women’s body image throughout the adult life span. This study used retrospect…
Breaking cover
Non-stigmatizing depictions of plus-size lovers of fashion are not easily found in traditional mass media, but in social media, fat fashion enthusiasts can readily be found. The purpose of this study was to investigate the little-studied phenomenon of plus-size YouTube content creators who make videos about fat fashion. To that end, thirteen individuals who wear plus-size women’s apparel took part in semi-structured interviews. A major theme foun…
Identities in transition
The purpose of this research was to examine identities of female motorcycle riders who have purchased or acquired Harley-Davidson (H-D) apparel or accessories, their relationship to the H-D subculture of consumption (HDSOC) and use of H-D products such as apparel within and outside the SOC. An inductive, qualitative, grounded theory approach was employed. Purposive and snowball sampling resulted in a sample of 23 female riders who owned H-D brand…
Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Eating Disorders and Behaviors (7 works) · Fashion and Cultural Textiles (6 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Advertising (5 works) · Clothing (5 works) · Business (4 works)