Does this Shirt Make Me Look Big…Enough? Looking at Male Body ImageRegan A. R. Gurung, Darryl D. D. Teske, Joshua S. Bastinello

University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

INTRODUCTION

METHOD

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

ABSTRACT

The subject of female body image and its consequences has been under the microscope for more than twenty years (Thompson, 2002). Given the powers of social influence, the media have been under fire for constantly bombarding young girls with images that lead them to believe one body type is more beautiful than another. Is the same true for men? There are many myths about gender ideals of body anxiety and satisfaction. One of the biggest myths is that men are not as dissatisfied with their bodies as women are. According to Cash and Brown (1989), both sexes perceived women as holding more negative body attributes than that of men, but this is not always true in reality. A number of studies (e.g., Buckley, Yesalis, Friedl, Anderson, Streit, & Wright, 1988) suggest that body anxiety can no longer be viewed as simply a female problem.

The number of messages concerning physical activity in men’s magazines has increased from 1960-1992 suggesting that men have an increasing pressure to be involved in fitness activity and unhealthy body-changing practices (Petrie et al., 1996).Men who abuse steroids may be similar to women with eating disorders (Blouin & Goldfield, 1995; Drewnowski, Kurth, & Krahn, 1995). Consequently, Pope, Philips, and Olivardia (2000) put forth the idea of the Adonis Complex.

The Adonis Complex is when men are so obsessed with the “ideal” body they are willing to go to any lengths in order to get it. This includes incessant workouts and even the use of anabolic steroids. The authors used case studies to show that men sacrifice many things, including their own health in the quest to get bigger and stronger, and present this as a growing phenomenon that affects every man that steps foot in a gym. Is this an empirical reality? The present study aims to shed more light on male body image by assessing male fitness club members.

Men (N=94) from different area gyms and the campus sports center filled out questionnaires assessing Social Physique Anxiety, Body Esteem, Social Support, and Relationship Quality, workout hours and supplement usage. Mean age was 30 years.

None of the body image measures, nor any of the relationship quality measures were significantly related to how long the men worked out or whether they used supplements. Average time worked out per day of the week is shown below. Contrary to recent media coverage, and studies such as that establishing the Adonis Complex, men who worked out more were not any more likely to have poor quality personal relationships or poor social support. One-way analyses of variance showed no relationships comparing body anxiety or amount of workout time between men that were in committed relationships and those that were not. Ironically, male levels of social physique anxiety were similar to those of a control group of women (from a separate study) suggesting that although men and women may have similar body issues, this does not manifest itself in excessive physical activity. Nonetheless, social physique anxiety was significantly related to different aspects of relationship quality as shown in the adjoining figure. It is likely that body image issues for men play out in other ways beyond hours exercised.

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Esteem Satisfac Commit Intimacy

Body Anxiety

Presented at the 2004 American Psychological Society’s Annual Conference. Chicago IL. Email gurungr@uwgb.edu for more details.

We looked at attitudes of 94 men regarding health and relationships. We did not find any relationships between social physique anxiety, body esteem, social support or relationship when compared to workout hours and supplement usage. Physique anxiety was related to relationship quality. Male physique anxiety was similar to female levels taken from a separate study.

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