Can appearance conversations explain differences between gay and heterosexual men's body dissatisfaction?

Men's body dissatisfaction is prevalent and a serious health concern as it is associated with negative outcomes including depression, disordered eating, and anabolic steroid abuse. Gay men are particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, perhaps due to heightened sociocultural appearance pressures experienced in gay subculture. Appearance conversations represent an underresearched, but potentially potent, mechanism of appearance pressures. The current study explored whether differences in the frequency of engaging in appearance conversations accounted for differences in body dissatisfaction and associated risk factors among gay and heterosexual men. A purposeful sample of gay (N = 77, Mage = 32.57) and heterosexual (N = 78, Mage = 25.30) men were recruited from community organizations in the United Kingdom. Participants completed an online questionnaire assessing appearance conversations, body dissatisfaction, appearance orientation, and internalization of appearance ideals. Gay men reported more frequent engagement in positive and negative appearance conversations and greater body dissatisfaction, appearance orientation, and general internalization than heterosexual men. Moreover, frequency of appearance conversations mediated the relationship between sexuality and the majority of study variables, including body dissatisfaction (ps<.05). These findings suggest that appearance conversations are an important sociocultural influence on male body image and that they are important in understanding the differences between gay and heterosexual men's body dissatisfaction and associated risk factors. © 2013 American Psychological Association

Looking age-appropriate while growing old gracefully: A qualitative study of ageing and body image among older adults

© SAGE Publications. Body dissatisfaction can be significantly detrimental to wellbeing. Little is known about older adults' body image, despite the fact that ageing causes unique bodily changes and that sociocultural pressures to resist these changes abound. We conducted six focus groups with a UK community sample of White British and South Asian older adults aged 65-92 years. Thematic analysis highlighted four themes: appearance indicates capability and identity; physical ability trumps appearance; felt pressures to age 'gracefully' while resisting appearance changes; and gender and cultural differences. These findings suggest that older adults' body image can have important implications for their wellbeing and merits researchers' attention

Looking age-appropriate while growing old gracefully: A qualitative study of ageing and body image among older adults

Abstract Body dissatisfaction can be significantly detrimental to wellbeing. Little is known about older adults&apos; body image, despite that ageing causes unique bodily changes and that sociocultural pressures to resist these changes abound. We conducted six focus groups with a UK community sample of White British and South Asian older adults aged 65-92 years. Thematic analysis highlighted four themes: appearance indicates capability and identity; physical ability trumps appearance, felt pressures to age &apos;gracefully&apos; while resisting appearance changes, and gender and cultural differences. These findings suggest that older adults&apos; body image can have important implications for their wellbeing and merits researchers&apos; attention. Keywords: Ageing, Appearance, Health, Body Image Running Head: AGEING AND BODY IMAGE AMONG OLDER ADULTS 3 Looking age-appropriate while growing old gracefully: A qualitative study of ageing and body image among older adults Ageing is accompanied by significant changes to physical appearance and functionality. These may include hair loss and change of colour, weight changes, the use of dentures, hearing and mobility aids, and changes in body shape and skin elasticity. Despite these changes reflecting normal ageing processes, individuals experience them within a culture that highly values and emphasises the importance of a youthful appearance (Becker et al., 2013). Older adults often experience sociocultural pressures to conform to youthful appearance ideals. 1 These pressures can impact their body image, which is an individual&apos;s thoughts, feelings and behaviours associated with their appearance and physical ability Despite the rapid increase in ageing populations in developed and less developed countries, whereby the number of people aged 65 and above has tripled in the last 50 years (United Nations, 2013), most appearance and body image research has focused on childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. Only limited research has examined the presence and nature of body image and related sociocultural pressures during mid to older adulthood. Furthermore, such research has tended to produce inconsistent findings and has overly focused on White older adult women Qualitative research with White women aged between 50-70 years suggests that 1 There is no definitive rule for what age constitutes the start of older adulthood. In ageing research, however, the convention is for older adulthood to be defined as 65 years and older (Erber, 2013). Running Head: AGEING AND BODY IMAGE AMONG OLDER ADULTS 4 concerns regarding the effect of ageing on body image are prevalent among this sample and that felt sociocultural appearance pressures are salient (e.g., Research is similarly equivocal about the effect of ageing on men&apos;s and women&apos;s general this area has been &quot;deficient in fully uncovering the nuances of diversity and the ways that intersectionality informs older adults&apos; embodied experience&quot;. They add &quot;there is a strong need to capture both the perceptions and the experiences of the aging body from the perspective of older men and women&quot;. In summary, while the existing research suggests that age-related appearance changes may be salient and give rise to appearance concerns, little is known about how older adults actually experience body image in the context of an appearance orientated society and an ageing body. The aim of this study therefore was to use a focus group methodology to explore indepth how ageing, appearance, and sociocultural appearance pressures may influence older adults&apos; body image (defined here as those aged 65 years and older). An additional aim was to recruit a more diverse population of older adults than has been traditionally sampled in previous research (i.e., a sample that included men and ethnic minority groups). Because there has been limited research with older adults, and the research to date has produced mixed Running Head: AGEING AND BODY IMAGE AMONG OLDER ADULTS 6 findings, we selected a qualitative design so that the results would largely be driven by participants&apos; accounts, rather than researchers&apos; assumptions about the nature and scope of body image concerns and sociocultural appearance pressures for older adults Method Procedure Nine community support organisations for older adults, based in the south west of England, were approached to request permission to invite their members to take part in a focus group on body image, ageing and society. Three organisations (Age UK Bristol, LinkAge and Dhek Bhal 2 ) granted permission for the first author to attend their local meetings to recruit older adults for this study. Subsequently, six focus groups were conducted between March and June 2012. Each focus group consisted of 4-6 participants, with four single-sex groups (two groups of males, two groups of females) and two mixed-sex groups. Ethics approval from the University of the West of England was granted for this study. Focus groups were conducted until saturation was reached, a point at which no new themes or information were apparent. Participants A total of 28 women and men (16 women, 12 men) aged 66-92 years (M =79.38, SD 2 Dhek Bhal is an organization that aims to support South Asian adults living in Bristol, UK, and the surrounding area Running Head: AGEING AND BODY IMAGE AMONG OLDER ADULTS 7 = 7.26) took part in the focus group discussions 3 . Participants identified as White British (n = 20; 71%) or South Asian (n = 8; 29%). Of the participants who reported their marital status, most identified as &apos;married&apos; (n = 13, 61%), with fewer as &apos;widowed&apos; (n = 4, 19%), &apos;single&apos; (n = 2, 10%), or &apos;divorced&apos; (n = 2, 10%). Of the participants who reported their height and weight, the average BMI was 21.06 (SD = 11.13) which is within the &apos;normal&apos; range for adults of this age group Data collection and analysis Four focus groups were led by the first author (a White British male in his twenties) with the remaining two were led by the third author (a White British female in her forties). Two female White British research assistants in their twenties observed the focus groups to record notes on speaker order. Each focus group discussion lasted between 50 and 63 minutes. Within each focus group, the discussions were interactive and all participants contributed freely to the discussion (i.e., responding to the moderator, as well as other participants). After participants provided written consent and demographic information, each moderator led the focus group using a semi-structured discussion schedule, derived from

"Appearance potent"? A content analysis of UK gay and straight men's magazines.

With little actual appraisal, a more 'appearance potent' (i.e., a reverence for appearance ideals) subculture has been used to explain gay men's greater body dissatisfaction in comparison to straight men's. This study sought to assess the respective appearance potency of each subculture by a content analysis of 32 issues of the most read gay (Attitude, Gay Times) and straight men's magazines (Men's Health, FHM) in the UK. Images of men and women were coded for their physical characteristics, objectification and nudity, as were the number of appearance adverts and articles. The gay men's magazines featured more images of men that were appearance ideal, nude and sexualized than the straight men's magazines. The converse was true for the images of women and appearance adverts. Although more research is needed to understand the effect of this content on the viewer, the findings are consistent with a more appearance potent gay male subculture

Young men’s minimisation of their body dissatisfaction

Objective: To examine men’s body dissatisfaction qualitatively. Design: Forty-two British men aged 18–45 years took part in a two-session group intervention across 12 groups. The intervention was designed to improve body dissatisfaction by engaging them in a critique of the appearance ideal through written and behavioural exercises. Main outcome measures/results: Analysis of the topics discussed during the intervention generated two core themes. Theme 1 showed that, in general, men minimised the existence of their own body dissatisfaction while (somewhat surprisingly) outlining the ubiquity and potency of the appearance ideal for men in general. Theme 2 involved men reporting the problematic impact of body dissatisfaction in their lives (despite earlier minimisation), such as social avoidance, strict eating and supplement regimes, or difficulty in situations where the body was exposed. Conclusion: The results stress the need to acknowledge that men experience a range of impacts of body dissatisfaction beyond clinical presentations (such as disordered eating) that influence their everyday lives, while also recognising that they tend to minimise this dissatisfaction in conversation. These findings have important implications for advocacy and interventions to improve men’s body dissatisfaction

Psychology’s medicalization of male baldness

Male baldness is physically benign though it is increasingly described as a “disease” based on claims that it is profoundly distressing. The medicalization of baldness was assessed using data extracted from a review of 37 male baldness psychosocial impact studies. Findings revealed most studies likely had commercial influences (78%), represented baldness as a disease (77%), were conducted on biased samples (68%), and advocated for baldness products/services (60%), omitting their limitations (68%). Health psychologists should challenge baldness medicalization so that men can make informed choices about what, if anything, they do with their baldness

Informal Mentors and Education: Complementary or Compensatory Resources?

Few studies have examined the impact that mentoring (i.e., developing a special relationship with a non-parental adult) has on educational achievement and attainment in the general population. In addition, prior research has yet to clarify the extent to which mentoring relationships reduce inequality by enabling disadvantaged youth to compensate for a lack of social resources or promote inequality by serving as a complementary resource for advantaged youth. Results from a nationally representative sample of youth show (1) a powerful net influence of mentors on the educational success of youth and (2) how social background, parental, peer, and personal resources condition the formation and effectiveness of mentoring relationships. The findings uncover an interesting paradox—that informal mentors may simultaneously represent compensatory and complementary resources. Youth with many resources are more likely than other young people to have mentors, but those with few resources are likely to benefit more from having a mentor—particularly teacher mentors—in their lives

Ticagrelor in patients with diabetes and stable coronary artery disease with a history of previous percutaneous coronary intervention (THEMIS-PCI) : a phase 3, placebo-controlled, randomised trial

Background: Patients with stable coronary artery disease and diabetes with previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), particularly those with previous stenting, are at high risk of ischaemic events. These patients are generally treated with aspirin. In this trial, we aimed to investigate if these patients would benefit from treatment with aspirin plus ticagrelor. Methods: The Effect of Ticagrelor on Health Outcomes in diabEtes Mellitus patients Intervention Study (THEMIS) was a phase 3 randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, done in 1315 sites in 42 countries. Patients were eligible if 50 years or older, with type 2 diabetes, receiving anti-hyperglycaemic drugs for at least 6 months, with stable coronary artery disease, and one of three other mutually non-exclusive criteria: a history of previous PCI or of coronary artery bypass grafting, or documentation of angiographic stenosis of 50% or more in at least one coronary artery. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to either ticagrelor or placebo, by use of an interactive voice-response or web-response system. The THEMIS-PCI trial comprised a prespecified subgroup of patients with previous PCI. The primary efficacy outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (measured in the intention-to-treat population). Findings: Between Feb 17, 2014, and May 24, 2016, 11 154 patients (58% of the overall THEMIS trial) with a history of previous PCI were enrolled in the THEMIS-PCI trial. Median follow-up was 3·3 years (IQR 2·8–3·8). In the previous PCI group, fewer patients receiving ticagrelor had a primary efficacy outcome event than in the placebo group (404 [7·3%] of 5558 vs 480 [8·6%] of 5596; HR 0·85 [95% CI 0·74–0·97], p=0·013). The same effect was not observed in patients without PCI (p=0·76, p interaction=0·16). The proportion of patients with cardiovascular death was similar in both treatment groups (174 [3·1%] with ticagrelor vs 183 (3·3%) with placebo; HR 0·96 [95% CI 0·78–1·18], p=0·68), as well as all-cause death (282 [5·1%] vs 323 [5·8%]; 0·88 [0·75–1·03], p=0·11). TIMI major bleeding occurred in 111 (2·0%) of 5536 patients receiving ticagrelor and 62 (1·1%) of 5564 patients receiving placebo (HR 2·03 [95% CI 1·48–2·76], p<0·0001), and fatal bleeding in 6 (0·1%) of 5536 patients with ticagrelor and 6 (0·1%) of 5564 with placebo (1·13 [0·36–3·50], p=0·83). Intracranial haemorrhage occurred in 33 (0·6%) and 31 (0·6%) patients (1·21 [0·74–1·97], p=0·45). Ticagrelor improved net clinical benefit: 519/5558 (9·3%) versus 617/5596 (11·0%), HR=0·85, 95% CI 0·75–0·95, p=0·005, in contrast to patients without PCI where it did not, p interaction=0·012. Benefit was present irrespective of time from most recent PCI. Interpretation: In patients with diabetes, stable coronary artery disease, and previous PCI, ticagrelor added to aspirin reduced cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke, although with increased major bleeding. In that large, easily identified population, ticagrelor provided a favourable net clinical benefit (more than in patients without history of PCI). This effect shows that long-term therapy with ticagrelor in addition to aspirin should be considered in patients with diabetes and a history of PCI who have tolerated antiplatelet therapy, have high ischaemic risk, and low bleeding risk