Boys, Bulk, and Body Ideals: Sex Differences in Weight-Gain Attempts Among Adolescents in the United States

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of weight gain attempts in adolescent boys in the US.Methods: Participants were 15,624 high school students from the nationally representative 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.Results: Overall, 29.6% of adolescent boys reported attempts to gain weight, including 39.6% of boys who were normal weight, 12.8% who were overweight, and 10.6% who were obese by body mass index (BMI). In contrast, only 6.5% of adolescent girls reported attempts to gain weight. Although only 3.3% of adolescent males are underweight by BMI, 19.3% perceive themselves to be underweight. Further, over half of adolescent males who are overweight by BMI perceive themselves to be about the right weight. Black/African American (Odds ratio [OR] 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.50-2.38) and multiracial (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.16-2.26) adolescent males had greater odds of weight gain attempts than White adolescent males. Adolescent males identifying as bisexual had lower odds (OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.25 -0.88) of weight gain attempts than adolescent males identifying as heterosexual.Conclusions: Weight gain attempts are common among adolescent boys including those who are considered normal weight, overweight, or obese by BMI; African American or multiracial; and those self-identifying as heterosexual. Consideration of the unique nature of male body image,

Predictors of muscularity‐oriented disordered eating behaviors in U.S. young adults: A prospective cohort study

“…We found that black/African American race was associated with increased odds of muscularity‐oriented disordered eating behaviors. This is consistent with findings among adolescent males in the United States that black/African American race was associated with weight‐gain attempts (Nagata et al, ), which may be a proxy for a desire to increase muscularity.…”

“…Levels of the outcome at baseline were not controlled for as AAS use and muscularity‐oriented disordered eating behaviors were not assessed at baseline. Trends in body image concerns may have changed as the outcome data were collected in 2001; however, the prevalence of weight gain attempts in males in this sample are similar to rates from a similar nationally representative survey collected in 2015 (Nagata et al, ). There was the possibility for selection bias as we excluded participants with missing 7‐year follow‐up data and a higher proportion of white participants compared to black/African American or Hispanic/Latino participants as well as male participants who self‐perceived “overweight” compared to “about the right weight” were retained (Supporting Information Appendix A).…”

“…We did not find an association between sexual identity and any muscularity‐oriented disordered eating behavior. One previous study found that bisexual, but not gay, adolescent males were less likely to report weight gain attempts (Nagata et al, ). In contrast, sexual minority adolescent males have been found to have increased odds of AAS use compared to their heterosexual counterparts (Blashill & Safren, ).…”

“…All models included the baseline variables age, race/ethnicity, and household income (Haines, Kleinman, Rifas‐Shiman, Field, & Austin, ; Nagata et al, ; Neumark‐Sztainer et al, ; Tabler & Utz, ). Analyses were stratified by sex given the different rates of weight gain attempts (Nagata et al, ) and muscularity‐oriented disordered eating behaviors (Eisenberg et al, ) in males and females. The Bonferroni correction was used to adjust for multiple statistical tests (VanderWeele & Mathur, ).…”

“…Furthermore, young females have also demonstrated muscularity concerns (Girard, Rodgers, & Chabrol, ; Holland & Tiggemann, ). Recent epidemiological surveillance in the United States suggests that 30% of adolescent males versus 7% of adolescent females are actively trying to gain weight (Nagata et al, ), which may be a proxy for desire to increase muscularity. Despite the centrality of muscularity concerns in body image, there is a paucity of longitudinal research examining predictors of muscularity‐oriented, as opposed to thinness‐oriented, eating behaviors.…”