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Description
Historically, males have been ignored and misunderstood within the field of eating disorders, and their eating patterns often do not map on to those studied among females. Gender differences for motivations to engage in maladaptive eating are salient-- females generally desire thinness whereas males typically desire a muscular build. Given this higher drive for muscularity, males may engage in more muscularity-oriented eating pathology—often characterized as eating excess calories throughout the day and/or eating specific macronutrients. Previous findings have indicated that body dissatisfaction, negative affect, internalization of the body ideal and impulsivity are associated with disordered eating habits among men. Thus, the current study set out to explore these predictors on various subtypes of men’s eating pathology. Participants were (N = 309) undergraduate college men between 18 and 35 years old (M = 19.61, SD = 2.58) at San Diego State University. Participants were recruited for participation through the University’s subject pool. Participants completed a 30-minute self-report questionnaire online regarding eating and exercise habits. Analyses included two structural equation models which estimated four predictors of eating pathology on three subtypes of disordered eating. Four independent latent variables were created (body dissatisfaction, internalization of body ideals, negative affect, and impulsivity); as were three latent outcome variables(restrictive eating, binge/purge behaviors, and muscularity-oriented eating). All four predictors and three outcomes were assessed in one model. An additional model controlling for age, ethnicity, race, sexual identity, and body mass index was subsequently assessed. In the unadjusted model, impulsivity negatively predicted restrictive eating, while body dissatisfaction predicted more restrictive eating. Negative affect was marginally significant in predicting muscularity-oriented eating. In the adjusted model, all predictors became nonsignificant, however, non-Latino participants engaged in more restrictive eating and muscularity-oriented eating than Latinos, and BMI predicted more engagement in restrictive eating. The structural equation models show there may be differential associations between these known risk factors and the various subtypes of eating pathology. These findings may have implications for future prevention and treatment interventions for men, which are still lacking. More research is needed to further understand men’s disordered eating behaviors.
