Muscle Dysmorphia, Gender Role Stress, and Sociocultural Influences

Abstract

Our study explored the contribution of gender role stress (GRS) and sociocultural appearance demands to symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD) in a college sample of 219 women and 154 men. For women, five GRS subscales, sociocultural appearance demands, age, and frequency of aerobic exercise predicted MD symptoms (model R² = .33; F(8,210) = 12.81, p < .001); for men, only one GRS subscale, age, and sociocultural appearance demands predicted MD symptoms (model R² = .40; F(3,150) = 9.52, p < .001). Post hoc analyses revealed that a small number of items explained a substantial portion of the variation, suggesting that MD may be more related to specific perceptions of pressure to attain an attractive body than to global gender role stress.

Key words:

• Adonis complex
• Bigorexia
• Obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder
• Women

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tucker Readdy

At the time of this study, the first author was with Oregon State University. Please address correspondence concerning this article to Tucker Readdy, Department of Kinesiology and Health, John Corbett Building, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071.