The relationship of sex and sexual orientation to self-esteem, body shape satisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology

Abstract

There is increasing interest in understanding what role, if any, sex and sexual orientation play in body dissatisfaction, its correlates to distress, and its relationship to disordered eating. The goals of the present study were to examine: (a) differences in sex and sexual orientation in internalization of societal pressure to modify physical appearance, components of body image dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptomatology and (b) whether the internalization-eating disorder symptomatology was mediated by the different components of body image dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. The present data support several key trends in the literature: men generally reported less body dissatisfaction, internalization of socio-cultural standards of beauty, drive for thinness, and disordered eating, but a greater drive for muscularity than women; results also indicated that different components of body image dissatisfaction and low self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between internalization and eating disorder symptomatology. Gay men reported significantly more body dissatisfaction, internalization, eating disorder symptomatology, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity than heterosexual men. Compared to heterosexual women, lesbians reported increased drive for muscularity, lower self-esteem, and lower internalization; however, they did not significantly differ on body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness or disordered eating. Correlation coefficients between body shape dissatisfaction and several aspects of mental distress were significantly larger for gay men than heterosexual men; the same coefficients did not differ between lesbian women and heterosexual women. Results of path analyses indicated that the relationship between internalization and disordered eating differs for gay and heterosexual men but not for lesbian and heterosexual women. These results call attention to lesbians as a generally understudied population.

Keywords: body dissatisfaction; body image; drive for muscularity; drive for thinness; eating disorder; gender differences; self-esteem; sexual orientation.

Figure 1

Model of the relationship between internalization of socio-cultural standards of beauty and disordered eating for men. Revised model with significant paths added. Path coefficients for the full sample of men as well as for the sub-samples of heterosexual (right side) and gay/bisexual men (left side) are presented (all ps < 0.05). The bold values within parentheses indicate a significant difference between heterosexual (right side) and gay/bisexual (left side) men.

Figure 2

Model of the relationship between internalization of socio-cultural standards of beauty and disordered eating for women. Revised model with significant paths added. Path coefficients for the full sample of women as well as for the sub-samples of heterosexual (right side) and gay/bisexual women (left side) are presented (all ps < 0.01).