Muscle dysmorphia symptomatology among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults

Kyle T Ganson; Laura Hallward; Mitchell L Cunningham; Rachel F Rodgers; Stuart B Murray; Jason M Nagata

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.01.001

Muscle dysmorphia symptomatology among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults

Body Image. 2023 Mar:44:178-186. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.01.001. Epub 2023 Jan 13.

Authors

Kyle T Ganson¹, Laura Hallward², Mitchell L Cunningham³, Rachel F Rodgers⁴, Stuart B Murray⁵, Jason M Nagata⁶

Affiliations

¹ Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: kyle.ganson@utoronto.ca.
² Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
³ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Department of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatric Emergency & Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, Montpellier, France.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

PMID: 36642014
DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.01.001

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe muscle dysmorphia (MD) symptomatology among a large, diverse, and national sample of adolescents and young adults in Canada. Data from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors (N = 2256) were analyzed. MD symptomatology was assessed using the Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI). Men (mean [M] = 33.9, standard deviation [SD] = 8.6) reported significantly greater overall MD symptomatology compared to women (M = 30.1, SD = 7.3) and transgender/gender non-conforming (TGNC; M = 31.5, SD = 7.6) participants. Similarly, the prevalence of clinical MD risk was also highest among men (25.7 %). In regression analyses, participants who identified as South Asian (B 1.97, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.41, 3.52) or Middle Eastern (B 2.92, 95 % CI 0.50,5.35), compared to White participants, or identified as gay or lesbian (B 2.65, 95 % CI 1.19, 4.10), compared to heterosexual participants, had greater MD symptomatology. Findings are the first to describe the MD symptomatology among Canadian adolescents and young adults. Health care and public health professionals should be aware of the overall high occurrence of MD symptomatology in this sample, and future research is needed to continue to describe MD among Canadian young people.

Keywords: Adolescents; Canada; Muscle dysmorphia; Muscularity; Young adults.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Body Image* / psychology
Canada / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Muscle, Skeletal
Transgender Persons*
Young Adult

Substances

2,5-dichloro-4-bromophenol