Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Tracey Thornborrow¹  Tochukwu Onwuegbusi¹  Sophie Mohamed¹  Lynda G. Boothroyd²  Martin J. Tovée³ 

[1] School of Psychology, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, United Kingdom;Department of Psychology, Durham University, United Kingdom;Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, United Kingdom

关键词: body image;    muscularity;    body ideals;    cross-cultural;    ethnicity;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00495

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

An increasing number of studies are evidencing relationships between the drive for muscularity and potentially harmful behavioral strategies, such as unhealthy dieting and steroid use amongst men in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) populations. As such Western appearance standards proliferate around the world via the media, men who live in other cultural contexts are also at risk of potentially negative effects from aspiring to the “muscular ideal.” However, few studies have explored these relationships in non-WEIRD populations. We investigated men’s body ideals and body image in two non-WEIRD, non-White populations, Uganda (Africa) and Nicaragua (Central America), and compared them with an ethnically diverse sample of men in the United Kingdom. We also examined whether socio-cultural factors including media and ethnicity, predicted the drive for muscularity and body change behaviors among our participants. Results showed that Ugandan men had the least desire for muscularity relative to men in the United Kingdom. Supporting the Tripartite model we found that media and peer influences significantly predicted the drive for muscularity, particularly among men from White British and Nicaraguan Miskitu ethnic groups. By contrast, Creole / Garifuna and Mestizo men from Nicaragua were more likely to want to increase muscularity relative to Black African men from Uganda. Overall, our findings support previous research in demonstrating that there are cultural differences in the kind of body men desire, and that men from WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations may experience similar pressures to aspire to and attain a muscular body type.

【 授权许可】

CC BY