Internalization of messages from society and perfectionism as predictors of male body image

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of male body image dissatisfaction, specifically ethnicity, societal factors and a personality variable. A total of 202 college males (37.3% Asian, 27.7% Caucasian, 14.5% Hispanic, and 13.6% African American) completed measures of perfectionism, internalization of societal messages, and a multidimensional measure of male body attitude. The results indicated that an Asian ethnic identity, socially prescribed perfectionism, and internalizing societal messages were predictors of muscle dissatisfaction. Socially prescribed perfectionism and internalization were the only predictors of low body fat dissatisfaction. Ethnicity, perfectionism and internalization were not predictive of height dissatisfaction. Unique aspects of perfectionism appear to predict specific body image dissatisfaction in men.

Introduction

Millions of men are secretly suffering from what Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia (2000) call the Adonis complex, an obsession with meeting culturally constructed male body image ideals. Body image is a complex construct that consists of one’s attitudes (such as evaluation and investment in appearance) and perceptions of his or her body (Cash, 2002). This obsession has led to an increase in eating disorders, usage of steroids and protein supplements, muscle dysmorphia (pathological dissatisfaction with one’s perceived amount of muscle mass), compulsive exercise, shame, and low self-esteem (Cafri, Strauss, & Thompson, 2002; McCreary & Sasse, 2000; Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2004).

One might be surprised by the number of men who are suffering from body image concerns as the majority of research focuses on women and body esteem (Pope et al., 2000). Among women, the internalization of society’s ideal standard of beauty (thinness) has been linked to body dissatisfaction, low feelings of self-worth, and eating disorders (Cash, 2002). Perfectionism has also been associated with body image disturbances and eating disturbances in women, as they may feel pressure to meet the unrealistic standards of beauty set by society (Hewitt, Flett, & Ediger, 1995). Are these same variables associated with body image dissatisfaction in men? Researching these factors could help mental health professionals become more aware of possible sources of poor male body image and guide intervention. The focus of the current study will be to examine the relationship among internalization of society’s ideal standard of beauty for men, perfectionism, and male body attitude.

Body dissatisfaction in females has increased over the past few decades (Cash, Morrow, Hrabosky, & Perry, 2004; Garner, 1997; Sondhaus, Kurtz, & Strube, 2001). Research comparing body image in men over the same time period has produced inconsistent results. Some studies indicated that male body image satisfaction appeared to remain constant over the past few decades (Cash et al., 2004; Sondhaus et al., 2001), while an increase in dissatisfaction was found in others (Garner, 1997).

Recently there has been an increase in research indicating that the standard for an optimal male body appearance is changing (Leit, Pope, & Gray, 1999; Morry & Staska, 2001; Thompson & Cafri, 2007). Male models that appeared in Playgirl magazine between the years of 1973 and 1997 have become more muscular and less fat over time. Seven percent of the models had a Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI) greater than 25 (Leit et al., 1999). This is typically unachievable without the use of steroids, thus, one might wonder if there is an increased use of steroids in males as the ideal male becomes more muscular. In addition, the muscularity of action figure toys, professional wresters, and movie stars have increased dramatically over the years, giving young boys the message that the ideal male is muscular (Thompson & Cafri, 2007; Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, & Borowiecki, 1999).

There has been a growing body of literature indicating that the standard for an optimal male body is becoming more muscular (Leit et al., 1999; Morry & Staska, 2001; Thompson & Cafri, 2007). A significant number of college men thought the ideal male and the average male had more muscle and less fat than they had (Cafri et al., 2002; Olivardia et al., 2004). The perceived female ideal of the male body was significantly more muscular and less fat than the type women actually preferred. This male–female discrepancy may be due to the media portraying men as more muscular in men’s magazines versus women’s magazines (Frederick, Fessler, & Haselton, 2004). Similar results were found in boys between the ages of 11 and 17 (Pope et al., 2000).

Although there is a growing body of research on male body image dissatisfaction, a lack of cultural diversity has been a limitation of several studies (McCreary, Saucier, & Courtenary, 2005; Stanford & McCabe, 2005; Vartanian, Giant, & Passino, 2001). The current body of research examining body image concerns with men of different cultures has lead to inconsistent findings (Ricciardelli, McCabe, Williams, & Thompson, 2007). African American men were shown to be more satisfied with their body and have higher body esteem than Caucasian men (Miller et al., 2000; Smith, Thompson, Raczynski, & Hilner, 1997). One study indicated that Asian men have greater body dissatisfaction than Caucasians (Barnett, Keel, & Conoscenti, 2001). In other studies there were no differences in the amount of body dissatisfaction, body esteem, or evaluation of appearance when comparing African American, Caucasian and Hispanic men (Demarest & Allen, 2000; Miller et al., 2000).

Olivardia et al. (2004) found that 27% of college males admitted that they used some type of steroid or performance enhancing substance. This may be an underestimate because some males may not know that substances such as creatine and ephedrine are performance enhancing substances (Olivardia et al., 2004). Blouin and Goldfield (1995a) sampled men from fitness centers and found that body builders were more likely to use steroids than other athletes. Improving looks was the most common motive to use them. Authors have found that as muscle dissatisfaction increased in college men, the level of depression increased and self-esteem decreased (Cafri et al., 2002; McCreary & Sasse, 2000; Olivardia et al., 2004). In contrast, body builders had lower self-esteem, were less satisfied with their bodies than other athletes, scored higher on scales of perfectionism, and had greater feelings of ineffectiveness (Blouin & Goldfield, 1995). Similar psychological components are seen in women with eating disorders. Body builders are at greater risk for engaging in harmful behaviors (food restriction, binging and purging) to meet the ideal standard of beauty (Blouin & Goldfield, 1995). Further inquiry is needed to better understand the factors that lead men to engage in these harmful behaviors.

In addition to the mass media, high levels of perfectionism can influence persons to base their self-worth on the ideal standard of beauty that is valued in society (Cash, 2002). Originally, perfectionism was considered a unidimensional cognitive construct (Hewitt et al., 1995). In recent years, perfectionism has been described as a multidimensional construct. Multidimensional scales appear to be the method of choice because they have been found to distinguish between the personal and social dimensions of perfectionism (Franco-Paredes et al., 2005). Hewitt and Flett’s (1991) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) describes these dimensions as: self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Self-oriented perfectionism refers to having extremely high personal standards, constantly appraising ones actions, trying to be perfect in what one does, and trying to prevent failure. Self-oriented perfectionism has been implicated in anxiety, anorexia nervosa, low self-regard, and depression (Hewitt et al., 1995). Other-oriented perfectionism refers to having high standards for others, appraising their actions, and expecting them to be perfect. Other-oriented perfectionism has been associated with low self-esteem, but not eating disordered behavior. Socially prescribed perfectionism refers to the feeling that significant others have high standards for the individual, appraises the actions of the individual, and expects him or her to be perfect. Socially prescribed perfectionism has been related to depression, low self-esteem, body image disturbances and eating disorders (Hewitt et al., 1995). A self-presentation component of perfectionism has also been recognized in the literature (Hewitt et al., 2003). Individuals possessing this interpersonal component of perfectionism feel that they need to appear perfect to others, as a form of impression management. Some individuals who experience socially prescribed perfectionism respond to this pressure by trying to give an impression of perfection, whereas others may rebel and reject the idea of perfection.

Much of the research comparing perfectionism and body image disturbances has been conducted on females (Davis, 1997; Hewitt et al., 1995). A relationship was found between self-oriented perfectionism and anorexia nervosa in female college students (Hewitt et al., 1995). Socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation were related to self-esteem, body image disturbance and eating disorder behaviors. Women who were not satisfied with their body, and have higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation exhibited more eating disordered behaviors (McGee, Hewitt, Sherry, Parking, & Flett, 2005). In a study comparing males and females with chronic symptoms of bulimia nervosa, males scored higher on the perfectionism and interpersonal distrust subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory than females (Joiner, Katz, & Heatherton, 2000).

More studies are needed to verify the relationship between perfectionism and desire for muscularity in men. There is a lack of research on the risk factors of body image dissatisfaction in men, but they seem to be similar to those found in eating disorders (Grieve, 2007; Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004). Eating disorders and drive for muscularity may both be used to attain the ideal male body as defined by society. This may be due to the dual pressure for men to be lean and muscular. Davis, Karvinen, and McCreary (2005) found that anxiousness, self-oriented perfectionism, and the focus on appearance were directly related to a drive for muscularity in men. Socially prescribed perfectionism has been significantly correlated to appearance self-esteem, weight concern, and shape concern in men, but did not account for unique variance when combined with several other factors such as body mass index, media influence, and weight-related teasing (Bardone-Cone, Cass, & Ford, 2008). The authors suggested that using an instrument designed to measure muscularity and body fat such as the Male Body Attitudes Scale should be considered for future work. Because there appears to be a noteworthy gap in the literature in regards to perfectionism and male body image in men, this topic demands further inquiry.

Societal messages have been cited as sources of male body image disturbances (Cash, 2002; Pope et al., 2000; Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2004; Thompson & Cafri, 2007). According to sociocultural theory, the culture determines the ideal standards of beauty and, in turn, how individuals view themselves as well as others (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Messages sent by the mass media have an influence on society’s standards of beauty (Tiggemann, 2002). In Western America, thinness is the ideal standard of beauty in women and muscularity is the ideal standard for men (Tiggemann, 2002). Most women, however, cannot achieve the desired level of thinness shown by the media, which is one reason for negative body image and eating disorders in women. In contrast, the ideal muscular man has a mesomorphic body shape, defined by wide shoulders, a larger upper body and a flat abdomen (Leit et al., 1999). Again, this standard of muscularity is not attainable for most males and has been implicated in the use of anabolic steroids (Pope et al., 2000). Comparing oneself to the images in the mass media, internalizing the ideal standards of beauty as a way to judge oneself, and believing that this ideal is critical to ones self-worth are some processes that may have an affect on a woman’s body image (Tiggemann, 2002). There is initial evidence that some of these processes also occur in adolescent boys and men (Morry & Staska, 2001; Stanford & McCabe, 2005).

Morry and Staska (2001) found that men who read fitness magazines and women who read beauty magazines were more likely to internalize the ideal standards of beauty set by society, which was been related to an increase in eating disorders and body shape dissatisfaction. When looking at a number a of biopsychosocial factors in relation to body dissatisfaction in college aged men, media pressures accounted for a significant amount of the variance (Bardone-Cone et al., 2008). Agliata and Tantleff-Dunn (2004) found that seeing images of the ideal body in television advertisements can increase the amount of muscle dissatisfaction and depression in males.

There is a plethora of research on female body image, but less research on male body image. The studies mentioned previously indicate that there is increasing body dissatisfaction in males, which can lead to use of steroids, eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors. Male body image needs to be researched in greater depth to understand the full scope of the factors associated with decreased satisfaction. In addition, many of the scales used to measure body image were designed for females (who have different body image concerns than men), thus underscoring the importance of scales designed for men. In the past few years scales have been designed specifically for males, such as the Male Body Attitude Scale (MBAS: Tylka, Bergeron, & Schwartz, 2005). The MBAS consists of three subscales (muscularity, body fat, and height) which have been found to be an effective measure of male body image concerns. There does not appear to be any studies comparing ethnicity internalization of messages in society, perfectionism and male body image at the same time. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship among these four variables, specifically do ethnicity, internalization of messages from society, and perfectionism serve as predictors of negative male body image?