Assessing and understanding body image and body satisfaction in gay and bisexual men through objectification theory

Figures & data

Table 1. Mean and Standard deviation of MBSRQ-as, OBCS, and subscales.

			Cisgender women		Gay & bisexual (G&B) men		G&B men 16–25		G&B men 26–34		G&B men 35+
			n = 158		n = 179		n = 61		n = 85		n = 33
	N = 387	SD	40.83%	SD	46.25%	SD	34.08%	SD	47.49%	SD	18.44%	SD
Average Age:	29.73	9.33	29.81	10.18	29.52	4.43	23.49	1.71	28.85	2.43	42.39	5.07
Average MBSRQ	3.17	1.28	3.06	1.27	3.23	1.28	3.20	1.28	3.24	1.31	3.24	1.23
Appeance Orientation	3.26	1.33	3.16	1.28	3.36	1.38	3.41	1.39	3.36	1.39	3.28	1.35
Appeance evaluation	3.01	1.24	2.87	1.25	3.10	1.21	3.10	1.13	3.11	1.27	3.06	1.18
BASS	3.11	1.28	2.96	1.28	3.13	1.27	3.02	1.26	3.15	1.30	3.30	1.20
BASS face	3.72	0.98	3.58	0.93	3.77	0.99	3.67	1.00	3.82	1.04	3.79	0.86
BASS hair	3.64	1.20	3.62	1.08	3.51	1.27	3.72	1.14	3.44	1.38	3.33	1.19
BASS lower parts	3.22	1.27	2.85	1.26	3.40	1.23	3.41	1.17	3.44	1.27	3.30	1.26
BASS waist	2.31	1.25	2.08	1.18	2.37	1.26	2.34	1.28	2.34	1.24	2.52	1.30
BASS upper part	3.00	1.22	2.93	1.20	2.93	1.25	2.54	1.27	3.07	1.21	3.27	1.15
BASS muscle tone	3.16	1.12	2.36	1.06	2.62	1.10	2.34	0.96	2.62	1.10	3.12	1.19
BASS weight	2.47	1.25	2.18	1.20	2.61	1.22	2.61	1.10	2.54	1.28	2.82	1.29
BASS height	3.80	1.17	4.00	1.04	3.65	1.25	3.39	1.32	3.68	1.25	4.06	1.03
BASS complete appearance	3.24	0.99	3.05	0.95	3.31	0.97	3.13	1.01	3.36	1.01	3.52	0.76
Average OBCS	4.21		4.31		4.28		4.47		4.34		4.15
Average of body surveilance scores	4.36		4.46		4.49		4.76		4.47		4.42
Average of body shame scores	3.78		4.03		3.76		3.99		3.90		3.37
Average of appearance-control beliefs scores	4.49		4.45		4.57		4.66		4.64		4.66

Table 2. Mean test of BASS questions.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16–25	26–34	35+
Cisgender women		2.70E-04	0.38	1.52E-03	1.34E-05
G&B Men			0.07	0.79	0.03
16–25				0.07	1.44E-03
26-34					0.07
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Table 3. Mean test of BASS Upper parts questions.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16–25	26–34	35+
Cisgender women		0.98	0.04	0.37	0.12
G&B men			0.04	0.38	0.14
16–25				0.01*	0.01*
26–34					0.41
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Table 4. Mean test of BASS Muscle tone questions.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16-25	26-34	35+
Cisgender women		0.02	0.95	0.07	3.12E-03*
G&B Men			0.08	0.71	0.02
16-25				0.11	9.15E-04*
26-34					0.03
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Table 5. Mean test of BASS height questions.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16–25	26–34	35+
Cisgender women		0.01*	1.77E-03*	0.05	0.76
G&B men			0.17	0.86	0.08
16–25				0.18	0.01*
26–34					0.12
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Table 6. Mean test of OBCS Body surveillance subscale.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16–25	26–34	35+
Cisgender women		0.74	0.02	0.65	0.14
G&B men			0.04	0.47	0.11
16–25				0.02	4.14E-03*
26–34					0.32
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Table 7. Mean test of OBCS Body shame subscale.

	Cisgendered women	G&B men	16–25	26–34	35+
Cisgender women		7.58E-04*	0.28	0.07	1.11E-08*
G&B men			0.16	0.37	2.39E-04*
16–25				0.60	1.95E-05*
26–34					8.31E-05*
35+

Bold values show statistical significance p ≤ 0.05, values with an asterisk (*) show statistical significance p ≤ 0.01.

Figure 1. Word cloud created to highlight the most frequently used words to answer: “how do you think body image/perception affects your community?“

Figure 2. SCW “I think I am…” score distribution.

Figure 3. SCW “looking at me, most people will think I am…” score distribution.

Table 8. Central tendency of SCW question “I think I Am…“

	N	Mean	Median	Mode	SD	Skew	Kurtosis
Population	389	3.62	4.00	4.00	0.87	−0.43	−0.05
Cisgender women	161	3.73	4.00	4.00	0.93	−0.32	−0.71
Gay and bisexual men	181	3.57	4.00	4.00	0.79	−0.78	0.91
Gay and bisexual men 16–25	61	3.39	4.00	4.00	0.94	−0.88	0.43
Gay and bisexual men 26–34	85	3.69	4.00	4.00	0.71	−0.31	0.09
Gay and bisexual men 35+	33	3.58	4.00	4.00	0.66	−0.64	0.26

Table 9. Central tendency of SCW question “Looking at me, most people will think I am."

	N	Mean	Median	Mode	SD	Skew	Kurtosis
Population	389	3.24	3.00	3.00	0.97	−0.07	−0.15
Cisgender women	161	3.44	3.00	4.00	1.03	−0.25	−0.51
Gay and bisexual men	181	3.09	3.00	3.00	0.89	−0.23	0.43
Gay and bisexual men 16–25	61	2.93	3.00	3.00	1.03	−0.43	−0.30
Gay and bisexual men 26–34	85	3.15	3.00	3.00	0.87	0.15	0.24
Gay and bisexual men 35+	33	3.21	3.00	3.00	0.60	0.83	1.73

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article The author was the sole contributor to the study concept and design.