Exploring Body Perception’s Relationship to Dietary and Exercise Behaviors in Young Adult Males: What Factors are Important?

TL;DRAbstract

This study aims to explore the interrelationships between body perception, sexual identity, depression, dietary behaviors and exercise behaviors in young adult men. While most research on body perception has focused on eating disorders in adolescent girls, socio-cultural norms for masculinity cause anxiety in young men. Consequently, the desire for muscularity may lead young men to participate in risky dietary and exercise behaviors. This study includes 2253 males aged 18-28 from the Wave III core in-home sample of the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample. For this secondary analysis, Wave III cross-sectional weights were applied. Using a socio-ecological perspective, intra-personal factors were: age, health, sexual identity formation, body perception, current eating behaviors, current exercise behaviors, and depression. School enrollment was an interpersonal factor and ethnicity was examined as an extra-personal variable. Descriptive

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper