This article describes the construction of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI), and 5 studies that examined its psychometric properties. Factor analysis indicated 11 distinct factors: Winning, Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Playboy, Self-Reliance, Primacy of Work, Power Over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals, and Pursuit of Status. Results from Studies 2-5 indicated that the CMNI had strong internal consistency estimates and good differential validity comparing men with women and groups of men on health-related questions; all of the CMNI subscales were significantly and positively related to other masculinity-related measures, with several subscales being related significantly and positively to psychological distress, social dominance, aggression, and the desire to be more muscular, and significantly and negatively to attitudes toward psychological help seeking and social desirability; and CMNI scores had high test-retest estimates for a 2-3 week period.

Development of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory

Body image across the adult life span: stability and change.

The present study examined body image and associated psychological traits in 154 college men. The comprehensive battery of measures included a novel computerized test of body image perception, the Somatomorphic Matrix, in which subjects could navigate through a range of body images, spanning a wide range of body fat and muscularity, to answer various questions posed by the computer. Subjects also completed paper-and-pencil instruments assessing depression, characteristics of eating disorders, self-esteem, and use of performance-enhancing substances. Findings suggest that contemporary American men display substantial body dissatisfaction and that this dissatisfaction is closely associated with depression, measures of eating pathology, use of performance-enhancing substances, and low self-esteem. Muscle belittlement, believing that one is less muscular than he is, presented as an important construct in the body dissatisfaction of men.

http://web4.uwindsor.ca/users/j/jarry/main.nsf/0/aa9ed943e56182bf85256abe005bc3f6/$FILE/Olivardia%20et%20al%20(2004).pdf

Biceps and Body Image: The Relationship Between Muscularity and Self-Esteem, Depression, and Eating Disorder Symptoms.

The present study tested whether theoretically derived risk factors predicted increases in body dissatisfaction and whether gender moderated these relations with data from a longitudinal study of 428 adolescent girls and boys because few prospective studies have examined these aims, despite evidence that body dissatisfaction increases risk for various psychiatric disturbances Body dissatisfaction showed significant increases for girls and significant decreases for boys during early adolescence For both genders parental support deficits, negative affectivity, and self-reported dietary restraint, but not Ideal body internalization, body mass index, and eating pathology, showed significant relations to future increases in body dissatisfaction; peer support deficits showed a marginal relation to this outcome Gender did not moderate these relations, despite adequate power to detect interactive effects

The Skinny on Body Dissatisfaction: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Girls and Boys

Objective
Despite evidence that body dissatisfaction predicts the onset of eating pathology and depression, few prospective studies have investigated predictors of body dissatisfaction.

Method
We examined risk factors for body dissatisfaction using prospective data from 531 adolescent boys and girls.

Results
Elevations in body mass, negative affect, and perceived pressure to be thin from peers, but not thin-ideal internalization, social support deficits, or perceived pressure to be thin from family, dating partners, or media, predicted increases in body dissatisfaction. Gender moderated the effect of body mass on body dissatisfaction and revealed a significant quadratic component for boys, but not girls. Gender also moderated negative affect.

Discussion
Results support the assertion that certain sociocultural, biologic, and interpersonal factors increase the risk for body dissatisfaction, but differ for boys and girls. Results provided little support for other accepted risk factors for body dissatisfaction. © 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 36: 389–401, 2004.

Risk factors for body dissatisfaction in adolescent boys and girls: a prospective study.

Much of the existing research on disordered eating has centered on the drive for thinness, which is most commonly observed in girls and women. The male standard of bodily attractiveness, however, is bigger, bulkier, and more muscular. Are boys and men motivated to be big and muscular in the same way that girls and women are motivated to be thin? The authors constructed a 15-item survey and administered it to 197 adolescents. The findings showed that the drive for muscularity measure displayed good reliability; that individuals high in the drive were more likely to be boys who were trying to gain both weight and muscle mass; that the drive was related to poor self-esteem and higher levels of depression among boys, but not among girls; and that the drive for muscularity was relatively unrelated to the drive for thinness.

An exploration of the drive for muscularity in adolescent boys and girls

Measuring the Drive for Muscularity: Factorial Validity of the Drive for Muscularity Scale in Men and Women.

In this study, we explored the relationships among gender and diet type (weight loss, weight gain, not dieting) on body image perceptions and psychological well-being in a sample of high school students. Our findings showed (1) that young women were more likely to be dieting to lose weight while young men were more likely to be dieting to gain weight and (2) that those high in the drive for thinness were most likely to be dieting to lose weight while those high in the drive for muscularity were most likely to be dieting to gain weight. The data also revealed that dieting to lose weight was associated with reporting significantly more depressive symptoms than dieting to gain weight or not being on a diet at all. The importance of distinguishing between boys’ and girls’ body image concerns was discussed.

Doris K. Sasse

Papers

An exploration of the drive for muscularity in adolescent boys and girls

Measuring the Drive for Muscularity: Factorial Validity of the Drive for Muscularity Scale in Men and Women.

Gender Differences in High School Students’ Dieting Behavior and Their Correlates

Drive for Muscularity Scale