Roughly 50 million American adults undergo a weight-loss diet each year (Federal Trade Commission, 1997), and spend 33 billion dollars on weight-loss products and services (Shape Up America, 1998). Nearly 8 million individuals struggle with eating disorders annually; treatment costs can exceed 30,000 dollars per month (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, [ANAD] 2000). Cigarette smoking may also be tied to body image concerns: a common reason provided for reluctance to quit smoking is the fear of weight gain (Shape Up America, 1998). Given the connections between low body esteem and issues of public health, body esteem has been a topic of active inquiry for a number of years.

One of the most salient features of the existing research in this area has been the focus on gender as a key predictor in how individuals regard their bodies. Although body satisfaction is an important component of self-esteem for both men and women, women often report lower body esteem than do men (e.g., Cash, Winstead, & Janda, 1986; Davis, Dionne, & Lazarus, 1996; McCauley, Mintz, & Glenn, 1988). This typical gender difference is illustrated poignantly by the fact that 90% of diagnosed eating disorders occur among females (ANAD, 2000), and that most girls have been on at least one diet before they complete high school (Attie & Brooks-Gunn, 1989; Rodin, Striegel-Moore, & Silberstein, 1990). In fact, it might seem that low body esteem is a female phenomenon, but men experience body dissatisfaction also. However, men’s concerns about thinness tend to be more variable than women’s concerns; that is, some men desire to be thinner while others see themselves as underweight (Silberstein, Striegel-Moore, Timko, & Rodin, 1988). Moreover, whereas a “drive for thinness” seems to be the dominant body shape concern for women (e.g., Cash et al., 1986; Lamb, Jackson, Cassiday, & Priest, 1993), men’s concerns seem to reflect a “drive for bulk” (Blouin & Goldfield, 1995; Davis, Brewer, & Weinstein, 1993; Pope, Katz, & Hudson, 1993; Schwerin et al., 1997). It is likely that the increased use of anabolic steroids and dietary supplements among young males reflects this greater concern about having sufficient musculature, and not appearing as “scrawny” or “wimpy”. However, anabolic steroid use among females has also risen of late (Faigenbaum, Zaichkowsky, Gardner, & Micheli, 1998; Yesalis, Barsukiewicz, Kopstein, & Bahrke, 1997). These trends suggest a need to study body image concerns and body esteem with reference to both dimensions of body shape among both men and women.

Another prominent theme that has emerged from decades of research on body image and body esteem is that both are influenced by the appearance-related messages that come from various socialization agents within one’s culture. The idealization of thinness by mass media has been identified as one such sociocultural “culprit” of low body esteem among women. The publicity surrounding the ultra-thinness of high-profile celebrities like Calista Flockhart – star of the popular television series “Ally McBeal” – has reawakened public concern about the media’s emphasis on thinness as the standard of feminine beauty, and perhaps justifiably so: media portrayals of the female body have become increasingly thinner over time (e.g., Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992), and other researchers have shown that women typically report feeling worse about their own bodies after viewing thin media models (e.g., Heinberg & Thompson, 1995; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 1997; Monteath & McCabe, 1997; Turner, Hamilton, Jacobs, Angood, & Dwyer, 1997; Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994). Although it has been suggested that the male body is not featured as prominently in the media as is the female body (Thompson & Heinberg, 1992), the role of the mass media in men’s body esteem and body image concerns has not received the same amount of empirical attention, particularly with respect to the shape dimension of muscularity/apparent physical fitness. In at least one laboratory investigation it was found that viewing photographs of attractive same-sex fashion models (e.g., slim women; physically fit men) negatively affected body satisfaction among men and women, and to an equal extent (Grogan, Williams, & Conner, 1996). Whereas women may compare themselves to “Ally McBeal”, men may long to have a physique like that of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thus, the impact of mass media images on men’s body esteem and body image concerns regarding muscularity and apparent physical fitness warrant closer consideration. Furthermore, given the increased media coverage of women’s athletics and the celebrity of a number of highly successful female athletes, media influences on women’s perceptions of their fitness and muscularity should also be examined.

Despite the ubiquity of the mass media and their undeniable influence in shaping cultural ideals of physical attractiveness, it is but one source of influence. Direct and indirect interpersonal feedback also influence body image and body esteem. Not surprisingly, frequent appearance-related teasing and criticism during one’s youth is related to greater body dissatisfaction as an adult (Cash, 1995; Levine, Smolak, & Hayden, 1994; Rieves & Cash, 1996). Researchers have shown that mothers can affect their daughters’ body image by expressing their own body image concerns (e.g., Moreno & Thelen, 1993; Pike & Rodin, 1991). Similar experiences within peer groups also appear to make important contributions; because dieting is commonplace among adolescent girls, it has been suggested that expression of body dissatisfaction may be essentially normative among females (Polivy & Herman, 1987). More frequent exposure to peers who regularly express dissatisfaction with their own bodies may contribute to the observed gender difference in body esteem, at least with respect to thinness. However, because the majority of research on body esteem has been conducted with women, the impact of appearance-related interpersonal feedback on men’s body esteem is not well understood, particularly with respect to the dimension of muscularity/apparent fitness.

Finally, previous researchers have shown that a relative absence of instrumentality predicts disordered patterns of eating among women (e.g., Flannery, Bugel, Owen, & Scher, 1991; Klingenspor, 1994). How instrumentality relates to men’s and women’s body shape concerns about thinness and muscularity/ apparent fitness and whether instrumentality serves as a buffer against known sociocultural influences in nonclinical populations has not been tested. Greater instrumentality among women may make them less susceptible to accepting media portrayals of thinness as appropriate or desirable for themselves, but may make men more susceptible to media messages regarding muscularity and physical strength. Individuals of either gender who possess greater instrumentality might be better able to stop or deflect appearance-related teasing or criticism from others. The authors examined overall body esteem and satisfaction with body thinness and muscularity/apparent physical fitness among male and female undergraduates and expected to replicate previous patterns suggesting differential relevance of those two shape dimensions for each gender. They sought also to replicate the negative relationships among body satisfaction, susceptibility to appearance-related mass media messages, and appearance-related interpersonal experiences. They then compared the predictive power of those three sociocultural influences on body esteem and shape concerns against one another, and explored whether individual differences in instrumentality differentially moderated the relationships among these variables for women versus men.

Overall Body Satisfaction Survey. Seventeen items from the Body Esteem Scale (Mendelson, White, & Mendelson, 1997) were administered to assess individuals’ general or overall satisfaction with their bodies. Using a 5-point rating scale (1 = never to 5 = all the time), participants indicated how often they feel the sentiment expressed in each item, such as “I’m proud of my body” and “I like what I see when I look in the mirror”. Participants’ ratings across the 17 items were averaged (M = .95), with higher scores reflecting greater satisfaction with one’s body or higher body esteem.

Dual Dimension Figure Rating Questionnaire. To obtain measures of body satisfaction along the specific shape dimensions of thinness and muscularity/apparent fitness, participants were presented with two series of same-sex figure drawings with each series containing 5 line drawings. In one series, the body shapes varied in terms of thinness; those figures were obtained from Stunkard, Sorenson, and Schulsinger (1983). The body shapes in the second series varied in terms of muscularity/apparent physical fitness, and were created by modifying an electronic clip art image from Click Art© using Adobe Illustrator® Version 8.0. Participants were asked to choose from each series (a) the figure that best represented their current shape and (b) the one that reflected their desired shape.

Individual figures within each series received a score (i.e., from 1 to 5); the thinnest and the most muscular figures were scored as “5”, the least thin and least muscular figures were scored as “1”. The number of the “current body shape” figure was subtracted from the number of the “desired body shape” figure, thus creating a desired-minus-current thinness score and desired-minus-current muscularity/apparent fitness score. As others have noted, such difference scores contain two pieces of information – how close to the desired body shape people see themselves at present (reflected by the absolute value of the difference), and the specific nature of any dissatisfaction (reflected by the numerical sign of the difference score; Silberstein et al., 1988). To maximize efficiency and clarity in the analyses and their interpretations, the authors considered only the absolute value of the two desired-minus-current discrepancy scores. In this way, they were able to focus on the extent to which both men and women expressed relative satisfaction (via smaller absolute values) or dissatisfaction (via larger absolute values) with their current bodies on both shape dimensions.

Sociocultural Factors Questionnaire. Susceptibility to appearance-related mass media, extent of interpersonal experiences with appearance-related criticism, and exposure to body image concerns expressed by peers were assessed using a 42-item survey based on a similar measure created by Levine et al. (1994). The Levine et al. measure assesses the frequency of appearance-related teasing by family members and by peers regarding body thinness/roundness, the extent of dieting among one’s peers, and usage of fashion magazines. The authors added questions regarding televised appearance-related messages and questions pertaining to the dimension of muscularity/apparent fitness (e.g., usage of fitness/body-building magazines). Questions related to disordered patterns of eating were eliminated. Using various 5-point rating scales, participants answered questions such as “How often do your peers talk about weight, weight-loss, and/or building muscle?”; “How often do your peers tease you about being too fat or too thin or not being physically fit or muscular enough?”; “How important are magazine advertisements, articles, television programs, and TV commercials in influencing your idea of the perfect body?”. A principal components analysis of the 42 items identified three distinct, internally consistent factors that were of interest for the present study: mass media susceptibility (m = .85), frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism from family members and peers (m = .84), and exposure to peers’ own body concerns (M = .73).

Instrumentality Subscale of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). The BSRI (Bem, 1974) presents 60 affective, behavioral, and cognitive traits to participants and asks them to rate along a 7-point scale (1 = never or almost never to 7 = always or almost always) how often they see themselves as possessing each trait. Twenty of the 60 traits comprise the instrumentality subscale; 20 of the traits comprise the expressiveness subscale, and the remaining 20 comprise the neutral trait subscale. The BSRI has been used extensively and has demonstrated sound psychometric properties (Beere, 1990). In the present study, only the instrumentality subscale was used, and demonstrated solid internal consistency (M = .91).

The results of t tests examining gender differences in the variables of interest are presented in Table 1. As expected, men reported higher overall body satisfaction than did women. An examination of the difference score distribution indicated that whereas 27% of the men in this sample wanted to be thinner, 26% wanted to be less thin than they saw themselves at present. Only 3% of the women in the sample felt they were too thin at present, whereas 56% wanted to be thinner. However, the absolute values of men’s and women’s desired-minus-current thinness scores did not differ. For the dimension of muscularity/apparent fitness, males perceived a larger discrepancy between their desired and current body shapes than did females; only 2% of the men in the sample felt they were too muscular at present, whereas 85% wanted to be more muscular. Among the women in the sample, 22% felt they were more muscular than they desired, whereas 56% wanted to be more muscular than they perceived themselves at present. Gender differences of interest were also present in the sociocultural variables: In contrast to men, women reported greater susceptibility to appearance-related media, appearance-related teasing/criticism, and exposure to peers expressing their own body image concerns. Men scored higher on instrumentality than did women.

As indicated in Table 2, lower overall body satisfaction was associated with larger perceived discrepancies between current and desired body thinness and muscularity/apparent fitness. The absolute values of the two difference scores were also significantly correlated with each other. Overall body satisfaction was negatively correlated with each of the three sociocultural variables considered, and each of those sociocultural variables was also positively correlated with the absolute value of the desired-minus-current thinness score. The absolute value of the desired-minus-current muscularity/apparent fitness score was positively correlated with susceptibility to mass media. Instrumentality was positively correlated with overall body satisfaction, and with the absolute value of the desired-minus-current muscularity/apparent fitness score. Instrumentality was negatively correlated with susceptibility to mass media and frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism.

Susceptibility to appearance-related mass media, frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism, and exposure to peers’ own body concerns were simultaneously regressed onto each of the three measures of body satisfaction so that the relative contributions of each predictor variable could be assessed. Instrumentality was added to each regression model in a second, hierarchical step, to assess whether its inclusion significantly increased the amount of variance accounted for and/or changed the relative importance of the sociocultural variables tested in the first step as assessed by the semi-partial correlations (sr) of each predictor with the criterion variable. In light of the significant gender differences in 2 out of the 3 measures of body satisfaction and in the sociocultural variables under investigation, the following regression analyses were conducted separately for men and women.

Overall Body Satisfaction. The regression model for women was significant, R² = .40, F(3, 161) = 36.43, p < .001; all three sociocultural variables accounted for unique portions of variance, ts(161) > 3.01, ps < .01. Susceptibility to mass media explained the largest portion of variance (sr = -.34), followed by frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism (sr = -.29), and lastly by exposure to peers’ own body concerns (sr = -.18). The same regression model was also significant for men, R² = .26, F(3, 106) = 12.60, p < .001, but frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism explained a greater portion of unique variation (sr = -34), than did susceptibility to mass media (sr = -.25). Exposure to peers’ own body concerns was not a significant predictor (p > .05). The inclusion of instrumentality to each model did not significantly increase the amount of explained variance in women’s overall body satisfaction (R² = .002, F[2, 159] = .30, p > .05), but did increase the amount of variation accounted for in men’s overall body satisfaction (R² = .03, F[1, 105] = 4.77, p < .05). Within that enhanced regression model, instrumentality emerged as a direct predictor of men’s overall body satisfaction (sr = .18, t(105) = 2.18, p < .05), although it did not account for as much unique variation in overall body satisfaction as did either appearance-related teasing/criticism (sr = -.27), or susceptibility to mass media, (sr = - .25; ts(105) > -3.13, ps < .01.

Desired-Minus-Current Thinness. The regression model for women was significant, R² = .18, F(3, 162) = 12.04, p < .001, but only frequency of appearance-related teasing/criticism accounted for a unique portion of variance, sr = .32, t(162) = 4.50, p < .001. The regression model for men was not significant, R² = .05, F(3, 105) = 1.82, p > .05. The inclusion of instrumentality did not result in a significant amount of explained variation in either women’s scores, R² = .001, F(1, 161) = .18, p > .05, or men’s scores, R² = .01, F(1, 104) = .73, p > .05.

Desired-Minus-Current Muscularity/Apparent Fitness. Although the regression model for women only approached statistical significance, R² = .03, F(3, 161) = 2.60, p = .054, the model was significant for men, R² = .14, F(3, 105) = 5.47, p < .01. Within that significant model, only susceptibility to mass media accounted for a unique portion of variance, sr = .33, t(105) = 3.67, p < .001. The inclusion of instrumentality did not increase the amount of variance explained by the first regression model either for men, R² = .01, F(1, 104) = 1.13, p > .05, or for women, R² = .00, F(1, 160) = .04, p > .05.

The authors’ goal was to compare men’s and women’s overall body satisfaction and their satisfaction with their current thinness and muscularity/apparent fitness. Although previous researchers have identified susceptibility to appearance-related mass media, frequency of experience with appearance-related teasing/criticism, and exposure to peers’ expression of their own body image concerns as important factors in the development of low body esteem, none have assessed the contributions of those factors for men and women simultaneously. Moreover, in no studies have researchers explored the extent to which instrumentality may modify the relationships among measures of body satisfaction and sociocultural correlates for men versus women.

We replicated the typical gender difference in body satisfaction; on average, women received lower scores than men did on the measure of overall body satisfaction. However, our findings concur that men experience body image concerns too. On a descriptive level, it was found that nearly as many men wanted to be thinner as those who wanted to be heavier, whereas the majority of women in this sample wanted to be thinner. However, satisfaction with current thinness (evaluated by the size of the discrepancy between current and desired thinness) did not differ by gender. Improving body muscularity appeared to be of concern for both genders, but men were significantly less satisfied with their current muscularity/apparent fitness than were women. This pattern is consistent with the assertion that men’s specific body image concerns reflect a “drive for bulk” (Blouin & Goldfield, 1995; Davis et al., 1993; Pope et al., 1993; Schwerin et al., 1997). Thus, in addition to replicating previous findings, the present results reiterate the importance of assessing body image in ways that reflect its multidimensional nature for both genders.

Regarding the influence of media images, the authors found that susceptibility to appearance-related media was the most important predictor of women’s overall body satisfaction. Surprisingly, although women reported greater susceptibility to appearance-related media than did men, susceptibility to media was not a significant predictor of women’s concerns about body thinness. The reasons for this unexpected pattern are not entirely clear. The media’s role in the development of low body esteem among women has itself received much media attention of late; as a result, women may be actively resisting the message that they must look like “Ally McBeal” by denying concerns about thinness, particularly when they are questioned about those concerns and their use of mass media at the same time. Future researchers might address this possibility of a female response set for expressing concerns about thinness; the correlations among the measures of body esteem in the present study would suggest that perceptions of thinness are a large component of overall body satisfaction, which was clearly related to susceptibility to media influence. Susceptibility to appearance-related mass media did not predict men’s concerns about thinness, but did predict their overall body satisfaction and their satisfaction with their muscularity/apparent fitness. Thus, as suggested by Grogan et al. (1996), media messages make contributions to men’s body image concerns too. Whereas the media may emphasize the body shape of “Ally McBeal” for women, it appears that the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger is stressed for men. The role of media influence in concerns about muscularity and physical fitness and related behaviors (e.g., exercise) should be given greater attention in additional studies of body image and body esteem. Except when taken to extremes (as in the case of anabolic steroid use or overtraining), factors that motivate individuals to build muscle tone and increase their physical fitness via exercise or the adoption of healthy diets might serve as positive, rather than as negative, influences on overall body esteem.

The present findings also reinforce the notion that appearance-related teasing and criticism represent another substantial factor in how individuals come to think and feel about their bodies. In fact, appearance-related teasing was the most powerful predictor of men’s overall body satisfaction and their concerns about muscularity/apparent fitness, and whereas mass media did not predict women’s concerns about thinness, their experiences with teasing and criticism did. Similarly, greater exposure to peers’ expression of their own body image concerns was a significant predictor of women’s overall body satisfaction, but did not emerge as a significant predictor of men’s overall satisfaction or specific shape concerns. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the idea that despite the salience and ubiquity of media images and messages, family members and peers often serve as a more proximal and relevant reference group (Cash, Cash, & Butters, 1983), particularly for women, who reported receiving more appearance-related teasing and criticism, as well as greater exposure to peers’ expressions of their own body image concerns than did men. Thus, it would seem that an important route of prevention and intervention for low body esteem would be better equipping individuals to cope with appearance-related interpersonal experiences.

Previous studies in which gender-role orientation was examined in conjunction with disordered patterns of eating have suggested that instrumentality may serve to protect females from low body esteem (e.g., Flannery et al. 1991; Klingenspor, 1994). In the current study, greater instrumentality was associated with less susceptibility to appearance-related mass media, and less frequent experience with appearance-related teasing and criticism. Thus, as predicted, those who possess instrumental traits such as assertiveness and self-confidence seem to encounter less negative appearance-related feedback, and may be less inclined to buy into media stereotypes. Greater instrumentality was related to higher overall body satisfaction, but also to greater dissatisfaction with current muscularity/apparent physical fitness. Nevertheless, when tested simultaneously against the other sociocultural variables in this study, instrumentality generally did not make substantial, additional contributions to explaining variation in body satisfaction and body shape concerns. This might be a function of inadequate statistical power, or of less variability in the body esteem measures than what has been seen in previous studies done with clinical samples. It may also be the case that instrumentality plays a more substantial, buffering role against the negative effects of various sociocultural factors on body image and body esteem earlier in development, like during early adolescence when pubertal body changes are underway, and when appearance-related teasing and criticism are likely to be highest (Parker & Gottman, 1989). Future researchers might reconsider instrumentality as a potential moderator of negative sociocultural influences with a developmental sample, and adopt some of the features of the present study, such as the inclusion of both genders, multiple and multi-faceted measures of body esteem/body shape concerns, and simultaneous comparison of sociocultural predictors of body image and body esteem. Although tracing the origins of body image disorders in girls and women remains an important research agenda, the results gained in the present study make clear that body shape concerns and satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) occur among both genders, and share similar roots. It is also essential to recognize not only the variation in body image and esteem that is due to gender and age, but also that which is due to race, ethnicity, and culture. Some researchers have already shown that conceptions of physical beauty held by Caucasian North Americans of European descent are not necessarily shared by individuals from other cultural or subcultural groups (e.g., Rucker & Cash, 1992). Unfortunately, the present sample was not culturally or ethnically diverse. Thus, another important avenue for additional research to traverse would be the examination of how multiple sociocultural influences operate within other cultures or subcultures to shape ideas about the physical self.

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