Promoting Positive Body Image in Males and Females: Contemporary Issues and Future Directions

Abstract

Research presented in this special issue focuses on a number of key contemporary themes relating to gendered body image. This paper considers what these studies tell us about the associations between body image and self-esteem, internalization of thin/muscular ideals, social comparison, and social identity and makes suggestions for interventions to improve body image in girls/ women and boys/men. It is concluded that psycho-social interventions to reduce internalization, to make social comparison processes more realistic, to raise self-esteem and to enable people to question social identities related to body dissatisfaction may be useful short-term solutions to improving body image in males and females with negative images of their bodies. Since most evidence for effectiveness of these kinds of interventions has focused on women and girls, more work is needed on how to make these effective for men and boys.

A Biopsychosocial Model of Dietary Restraint in Early Adolescent Boys

“…For seventh-and eighth-grade boys, Smolak and Stein (2006) found that the interaction of exposure to muscular images in magazines and being invested in their physical strength predicted boys' drive for muscularity. In a review of factors associated with body image in boys, men, girls, and women, Grogan (2010) identified social-and gender-identity as factors that influence boys' investment in societal appearance norms. In a related study, Smolak and Stein (2010) found that boys' investment in male physical attributes (e.g., strength) predicted investment in media images of men who have the muscular and lean body ideal seven months later.…”

“…In a related study, Smolak and Stein (2010) found that boys' investment in male physical attributes (e.g., strength) predicted investment in media images of men who have the muscular and lean body ideal seven months later. Researchers (e.g., Choma et al, 2010;Grogan 2010;Pompper, 2010) have suggested that the media's focus on male physical appearance may lead boys and men to feel valued for how they look more so than for who they are or what they can do, leading to a sense of objectification (Strelan & Hargreaves, 2005).…”

“…Although few studies have examined social body comparisons in boys using multivariate models (Grogan, 2010;Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2011), researchers have documented its association with internalization. Among male undergraduates, Karazsia and Crowther (2009) found that social body comparisons was related to internalization of the lean and muscular (or athletic) body ideal; the men said that they most frequently compared their bodies with friends, same-sex peers at school, and sports athletes.…”

Biopsychosocial Model of Dietary Restraint in Early Adolescent Boys

“…Recent research findings (e.g., Grogan, 2010;Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2011) have suggested that boys do engage in social body comparisons, and such comparisons are indirectly associated with body dissatisfaction though internalization of societal appearance standards.…”

Investigating the Role of Dispositional Mindfulness as a Protective Factor for Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Women

“…Recently, researchers have recommended to shift the research focus towards examining potential protective and buffering factors that may explain why some women do not report or experience body image concern (Grogan, 2010) The present study sought to investigate dispositional mindfulness as a protective factor within this field of research, hypothesizing that women reporting higher levels of dispositional mindfulness will also report significantly less negative appearance evaluation, investment in appearance, preoccupation with weight, shame and psychological distress and higher self-esteem in comparison to women reporting lower levels of dispositional mindfulness.…”