Male Body Image: The Role of Muscle Magazine Exposure, Body Mass Index, and Social Comparison in Men's Body Satisfaction

Unrealistic images of male beauty are on the rise (e.g., Baghurst, Hollander, Nardella, & Haff, 2006). However, research on male body image tends to assume that the same theoretical models used to account for body satisfaction in women are appropriate for men (e.g., McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004). Few have tested the assumption that female-typical models can be applied to men. Three variables have proven instrumental in accounting for body satisfaction in women: (a) exposure to relevant content, (b) BMI, and (c) social comparison (e.g., Blond, 2008). We present an exploratory study, using path modeling, to simultaneously assess the relative impact of each of these on body satisfaction in young men.