Body image disturbance and sexual orientation: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Negative body image, or body image disturbance (BID) has been associated with depression, low self-esteem, and the development of eating disorders. Furthermore, BID may affect an individual regardless of gender or sexual orientation. To synthesise the current literature, we conducted a meta-analysis of 48 studies to determine if BID differed between lesbian versus heterosexual women, lesbian women versus gay men, and gay versus heterosexual men. Body image measures were grouped according to similarities in constructs measured, resulting in five different categories (global satisfaction, figural-rating scales, cognitive measures, affect measures, and male body image). The results indicated that lesbian women reported experiencing less BID compared to heterosexual women on measures of global satisfaction, but more compared to gay men, and gay men reported experiencing greater BID compared to heterosexual men on three out of five analyses. Moderation analyses indicated that the study quality was not a statistically significant moderator of the effect sizes. Results from this updated meta-analysis indicate that, to some degree, BIDs affect individuals regardless of gender and sexual orientation; however, there is some variability associated with sexual orientation.

Keywords: Body image; Body image disturbance; Gender; Meta-analysis; Sexual orientation.