Body image and steroid use in male bodybuilders

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the association between body image and eating‐related attitudes among male bodybuilders in relation to two athletic comparison groups, runners and martial artists. It was also of interest to examine whether steroid use may be associated with body image disturbances in athletes. The volunteer sample of 139 male athletes recruited from fitness centers comprised 43 bodybuilders, 48 runners, and 48 martial artists (tae kwon do practitioners). Standardized measures of body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, drive for bulk, bulimia, self‐esteem, depression, maturity fears, and perfectionism as well as questionnaires designed to measure attitudes toward steroids, and rates of steroid use were administered in a manner that encouraged disclosure. Bodybuilders reported significantly greater body dissatisfaction, with a high drive for bulk, high drive for thinness, and increased bulimic tendencies than either of the other athletic groups. In addition bodybuilders reported significant elevations on measures of perfectionism, ineffectiveness, and lower self‐esteem. They also reported the greatest use of anabolic steroids and most liberal attitudes towards using steroids. Steroid users reported that the most significant reason for using steroids was to improve looks. Steroid users reported an elevated drive to put on muscle mass in the form of bulk, greater maturity fears, and enhanced bulimic tendencies than nonusers. The results suggest that male bodybuilders are at risk for body image disturbance and the associated psychological characteristics that have been commonly reported among eating disorder patients. These psychological characteristics also appear to predict steroid use in this group of males. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Envy Mediates the Link Between Social Comparison and Appearance Enhancement in Women

“…Men also face pressures relating to their physical appearances (Gosse and Arnocky 2012). For instance, research has shown that men exercise (Guðnadóttir and Garðarsdóttir 2014;Shomaker and Furman 2010), tailor their clothing choices (Frith and Gleeson 2004), and even engage in risky behaviors, such as steroid use (Blouin and Goldfield 1995;Ricciardelli and McCabe 2003), to appeal to women. Envy might motivate a desire to build bigger muscles or to display status and resources (e.g., expensive clothing) to signal the types of traits women prioritize in their mates (Buss 1989;Li et al 2002).…”

Muscle dysmorphia and the DSM‐V conundrum: Where does it belong? A review paper

“…28 Assessment tools that are sensitive to the symptomatic presentations of males with eating and body image concerns are clearly needed if meaningful comparisons are to be made between males and females with disturbances in these domains. 28,52,53 As one example of this endeavor, items on the drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction subscales of the EDI have been reversed (e.g., the item 'If I gain a pound, I worry that I will keep gaining' has been altered to 'If I lose a pound, I worry that I will keep losing') with the psychometric properties of the revised scale awaiting thorough investigation. 53 Interestingly, there have also been recent claims that the measurement of muscle dysmorphia symptomatology in women is insufficiently sensitive, and parallels the insensitivity of detecting eating disorder pathology in men using traditional eating disorder measures.…”

Personal and Psychosocial Predictors of Doping Use in Physical Activity Settings: A Meta-Analysis

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