12/26/2023 0 Comments Body shapes real people menWhile not every individual who is exposed to media’s appearance ideals will experience negative effects, those who cognitively adopt these body ideals may be at greater risk than those individuals who do not ( Nouri et al., 2011). While few studies have investigated media influence on men’s body image outside of a WEIRD demographic ( Edwards et al., 2014), scant evidence suggests that men in non-WEIRD populations are also beginning to aspire to the muscular ideal body type ( Holmqvist and Frisén, 2010) and experience body image concerns ( Ricciardelli et al., 2007a Xu et al., 2010).Ĭhronic media saturation of the physical and sociocultural environment means such idealized bodies proliferate people’s “visual diet” and become normalized ( Boothroyd et al., 2012 Smirles and Lin, 2018). Studies show that even in non-WEIRD (that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic see Henrich et al., 2010) populations with relatively recent exposure to Western media, television consumption is associated with slimmer female body ideals among both men and women ( Jucker et al., 2017 Thornborrow et al., 2018 Boothroyd et al., 2019) and with disordered eating among women ( Becker et al., 2002) and dieting behaviors ( Boothroyd et al., 2016). Less conclusive evidence suggests that media exposure is also associated with negative effects on men’s body image ( Blond, 2008 Hausenblas et al., 2013) in similar but not identical ways ( Barlett et al., 2008 Tamplin et al., 2018).Īs the media become ever more pervasive, and Western appearance standards are broadcast to people around the world, the need for research that measures the media’s impact on body image and well-being beyond a White, Western demographic becomes more pressing. Both correlational and experimental studies have shown that even relatively short durations of exposure to the media’s body ideals can have a detrimental effect on women’s body image ( Grabe et al., 2008). “Ideal” women are portrayed as “curvaceously thin,” with a low body weight but full breasts ( Harrison, 2003), while “ideal” men have bodies with “worked-out” muscles and v-shaped torsos ( Edwards et al., 2014). The often unrealistic appearance standards that proliferate Western media are believed to influence people’s body ideals. 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. By contrast, Creole / Garifuna and Mestizo men from Nicaragua were more likely to want to increase muscularity relative to Black African men from Uganda. 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. Results showed that Ugandan men had the least desire for muscularity relative to 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. 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. 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. 3Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United KingdomĪn 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.2Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom.1School of Psychology, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom. Tracey Thornborrow 1*, Tochukwu Onwuegbusi 1, Sophie Mohamed 1, Lynda G.
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