Personality correlates of a drive for muscularity in young men

The female drive for thinness [DT] and the male drive for muscularity [DM] reflect the pursuit of two culturally explicit, gender-specific, body shape ideals. While a large body of research has confirmed a set of personality vulnerability traits related to DT in women, little is known about the personality correlates of DM. We hypothesised that a similar psychological profile would characterize both. We assessed a sample of young men on measures of neuroticism, perfectionism, narcissism, and appearance and fitness orientation, and used multiple regression procedures to determine the utility of each in predicting DM. Our hypothesis was strongly supported; results indicated that all the traits except narcissism were significantly and simultaneously related to DM, together accounting for 40% of the variance. Given the strong links among DM, steroid use, and excessive weight training, we can infer that these psychological characteristics also increase the risk of potentially risky and unhealthy behaviours in young men as they do in young women.