Disentangling the relations of drive for toned muscularity with eating, exercise and body image psychopathology in women

Abstract

Many women desire a toned body characterised by lean muscularity combined with overall slenderness. This aesthetic ideal is unattainable for most women, and is potentially associated with detrimental psychological and behavioural correlates. This PhD investigated the maladaptive eating, exercise, affective, and body image-related psychopathology associated with women’s drive for toned muscularity (DfM).

A correlational study examining the associations of DfM with traditional disordered eating and negative emotional indices (Study 1) found DfM was related to disordered eating symptoms, as well as depressive and stress symptoms. Study 2 presents a psychometric validation among women of the Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test (MOET), a purposive measure of muscularity-oriented disordered eating. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a briefer 12-item MOET.

Leveraging the validated MOET, Study 3 examined the associations between DfM and both traditional (thinness) and muscularity-oriented disordered eating, as well as compulsive exercise. DfM was uniquely related to eating and exercise psychopathology, including thinness- and muscularity-oriented disordered eating, and multiple components of compulsive exercise.

A limitation of these studies was the use of a cross-sectional correlational design. Study 4 used ecological momentary assessment to examine the temporal relations between DfM and indices of eating, exercise, and body image-related psychopathology in women’s daily lives. Both trait and state variants of women’s DfM were associated with disordered eating, exercise for weight/shape purposes, poorer affective outcomes, and other maladaptive appearance-related phenomena.

Collectively, these findings provide compelling evidence of the deleterious psychological and behavioural outcomes associated with women’s DfM. Efforts to address the appeal of this ideal and associated detrimental outcomes among women are an important direction for future research.