Too masculine for healthcare, too feminine for intense sports: correlation between gender conformity and pro-health behaviours

Abstract

Background: The goal of this paper is to examine to what extent levels of femininity and masculinity are associated with practicing several types of health behaviours among individuals who are physically active and inactive. Material/Methods: A total of 559 individuals aged between 35 and 45 (M = 39.4; SD = 3.2) took part in the study. The inactive group consisted of 211 individuals (n = 85 women, n = 126 men), and the active group consisted of 348 individuals (n = 131 women, n = 217 men). The participants completed the following pen-and-paper questionnaires: the Psychological Gender Inventory, the Health Behaviours Inventory, and the Inventory of Physical Activity Objectives. Results: Physical activity and androgynous psychological gender were shown to be associated with the levels of health behaviours in men and women. Among men, femininity turned out to be a factor protective against hegemonic masculinity, while among women it was observed that it is mainly masculinity that correlates with health behaviours. Physical activity was associated with a better psychological attitude. Conclusion: It is possible to treat physical activity as a protective factor against decreased mood and an aid in coping with decreased mood. Society and culture should encourage the development of femininity and masculinity from the earliest years. Future research on masculinity and femininity and pro-health behaviours should be aimed at looking for ways to promote physical activity among undifferentiated individuals.

The Role of Religion and Religiosity in Health-Promoting Care for the Body During the Lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic in Egypt, Poland and Romania

“…In studies of Polish and Chinese respondents, Wilczyńska et al ( 2021 ) proved that fear of COVID-19 changes people’s motives to engage in PA and that these motives vary between women and men as well as among people of different ages. Additionally, the results of this study indicated that age was negatively related to PA among Orthodox Christians and Catholics and that gender was related to PA only among Sunni Muslims, also indicating that the probability of PA was higher among men, which is in contradiction with the results of many other studies showing a different approach to health-promoting physical activity based on gender (Pawłowska et al, 2021 ). Kahan ( 2018 ), investigating advertisements of PA programming in Islamic centres in the USA, noted that most activities—with the exception of fitness classes—were advertised to a male audience and underlined the fact that there is a gap with respect to advertisements targeting women, which could be a reason underlying the fact that fewer women who following this particular religion engage in exercise.…”

The Relationship between Obligatory Exercise and Eating Attitudes, and the Mediating Role of Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Many people at such a young age are still in the early stages of their career or have just stabilized at work, must cope with the pressures of marriage, a mortgage, or raising young children, or a combination thereof. Pressure is thought to affect eating behavior [60]: people tend to change their original eating habits to cope with stress [61][62][63][64]. Therefore, higher life stress may be the reason for the abnormal eating attitudes of these groups.…”

The Mediating Effect of Negative Appearance Evaluation on the Relationship Between Eating Attitudes and Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance

“…Thus, underweight men seem to be dissatisfied with their bodies, whereas underweight women seem to be very satisfied ( 86 ). Although both men and women desire physical perfection, gaining weight and attaining the ideal body should be achieved through exercise and weight training and not only via diet control ( 87 ). However, the idea of achieving the socio-cultural perception of a perfect body, combined with girls’ dissatisfaction with their bodies, can exacerbate inappropriate eating behaviors and increase their risk of developing eating disorders ( 88 ).…”