The interaction of sociocultural attitudes and gender on disordered eating.

OBJECTIVE

The Tripartite Influence Model posits that social agents emphasize a thin ideal for women and a muscularity ideal for men. There is a gap in the literature of how sociocultural body ideal internalization affects overall disordered eating symptoms in men and specifically drive for muscularity in women.

METHOD

The sample consisted of 1,929 participants (44.2% men) who completed online surveys. It was predicted that internalization would be a stronger predictor for overall disordered eating in women and for muscularity in men.

RESULTS

Women with high internalization had increased disordered eating symptoms in comparison to men, whereas for men, increased internalization was linked to more drive for muscularity, as compared with women.

CONCLUSIONS

It is important to emphasize, however, that men still exhibited higher rates of disordered eating symptoms when they had increased internalization and women exhibited an increased drive for muscularity when they had higher internalization.