Brandt Gerrit, Pahlenkemper Marie, Jürgensen Vanessa C, Lehe Martin S, Laskowski Nora M, Halbeisen Georg, Paslakis Georgios
Medical Faculty, University Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Ruhr-University Bochum, Campus East-Westphalia, Virchowstr. 65, 32312, Luebbecke, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 17;15(1):32579. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-19246-6.
This study examines the role of gender role orientation in shaping body ideals and its impact on disordered eating and muscle dysmorphic symptoms in women. We explore how self-perceived Gender Roles regarding Masculinity and Femininity relate to thinness and muscularity ideals and whether these body ideals mediate the relationship between Gender Roles and disordered eating behaviors. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 304 adult women. Participants completed measures assessing gender role orientation, body ideals, disordered eating symptoms, and muscle dysmorphic symptoms. Mediation analyses were performed. Self-reported Masculinity was associated with stronger muscularity ideals, while Femininity predicted a weaker drive for muscularity. The mediation analysis showed that muscularity ideals completely mediated the relationship between self-perceived Masculinity or Femininity and disordered eating symptoms. The study highlights the importance of considering Gender Roles and muscularity ideals when examining the development of body image concerns and disordered eating behaviors. The findings suggest that promoting flexible gender role perceptions could be an effective focus for public health interventions aimed at preventing and reducing disordered eating. Future research should further investigate these relationships in clinical populations and explore additional mediators.Trial registration: This study was preregistered on the Open Science Framework (OSF, https//osf.io/efn4v May 6, 2024).
本研究考察了性别角色取向在塑造身体理想形象中的作用及其对女性饮食失调和肌肉变形症状的影响。我们探讨了关于男性气质和女性气质的自我认知性别角色如何与瘦和肌肉理想形象相关，以及这些身体理想形象是否介导了性别角色与饮食失调行为之间的关系。对304名成年女性进行了一项横断面在线调查。参与者完成了评估性别角色取向、身体理想形象、饮食失调症状和肌肉变形症状的测量。进行了中介分析。自我报告的男性气质与更强的肌肉理想形象相关，而女性气质则预示着对肌肉的渴望较弱。中介分析表明，肌肉理想形象完全介导了自我认知的男性气质或女性气质与饮食失调症状之间的关系。该研究强调了在研究身体形象问题和饮食失调行为的发展时考虑性别角色和肌肉理想形象的重要性。研究结果表明，促进灵活的性别角色认知可能是旨在预防和减少饮食失调的公共卫生干预措施的有效重点。未来的研究应进一步调查临床人群中的这些关系，并探索其他中介因素。试验注册：本研究已在开放科学框架（OSF，https//osf.io/efn4v）上预先注册，日期为2024年5月6日。
