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Relationships between body image and mental health in white, cisgender college students

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies have suggested that drive for leanness (DL) may be less maladaptive than drive for thinness (DT) or drive for muscularity (DM). However, no studies have examined whether there might be gender differences in the relationships between these three drives and mental health variables. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we wanted to examine DL in the context of mental health and to see if it is less maladaptive than DT and DM. Second, we wanted to examine gender differences in the relationships between body dissatisfaction (DT, DM, DL) and mental health in a sample of college students.

Methods

A sample of 988 White, heterosexual, cisgender college students (76.8% female) completed an omnibus survey measuring body image (DL, DT, DM) and mental health (generalized anxiety, social physique anxiety, self-esteem) variables. Regression analyses evaluated associations between these drives and mental health variables.

Results

DT predicted all three mental health outcomes in both men and women. DM predicted generalized and social physique anxiety in women but only generalized anxiety in men. DL predicted social physique anxiety only in women.

Conclusion

Because we found gender differences in body image and relationships between body image and mental health, future studies should take gender into account when exploring body image and related variables.

Level of Evidence

V Cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Data availability

The data set is not publicly available but is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Science, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

    Anastasiya Artyukhov & Mary Pritchard

  2. Combined-Integrated Clinical & Counseling, Psychology Program, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Kyle Brasil

Authors
  1. Anastasiya Artyukhov
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  2. Mary Pritchard
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  3. Kyle Brasil
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Contributions

MP contributed to the study's conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and coding were performed by MP and KB. MP and AA analyzed the data and wrote all paper drafts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Pritchard.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Institutional Review Board granted approval at Boise State University on 9/17/21 041-SB21-044.

Competing interests

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Artyukhov, A., Pritchard, M. & Brasil, K. Relationships between body image and mental health in white, cisgender college students. Eat Weight Disord 27, 3579–3586 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01495-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01495-3

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