The current study was designed to examine the effect of exposure to muscular ideal bodies on body satisfaction in men. College men (N = 104) at a medium-sized mid-south university completed the Body Assessment (BA) scale, which measures body satisfaction, before and after exposure to either muscular or nonmuscular advertisements. BA scores were examined using a repeated measures (pre and post) ANOVA with muscularity of image (view images of muscular men vs. view images of average men) as the between-participants factor. Results indicated that men's self-rated body satisfaction decreased after viewing images of muscular men but did not change after viewing images of average men. Thus, it appears that men's body satisfaction may be influenced by exposure to brief images of muscular models. These results are congruent with results of previous investigations of the effects of viewing images of thin models on women's body satisfaction.KEY WORDS: body image; muscularity; body satisfaction.One sociocultural factor that appears to influence body satisfaction in both men and women is the media. People are bombarded daily with their culture's stereotypical images of attractiveness from magazines, television, films, billboards, and other electronic and print media. This constant exposure to ideal body types (which are often quite unrealistic for most individuals to obtain) can make individuals more sensitive and conscious about their own bodies, and can evoke comparisons between themselves and unrealistic media images of thinness and/or muscularity (Turner et al., 1997).Although one might argue that media only reflects what is prevalent in society, there is strong evidence that exposure to idealized thin bodies via magazines, television, and movies has deleterious effects, especially in women. Women report that they use models in magazines as a point of comparison for
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.