Abstract
This study investigated how various dimensions of body dissatisfaction of men in Generation Y (i.e., body dissatisfaction-weight, body dissatisfaction-muscles, and body dissatisfaction-height) influenced their clothing related behavioral responses, including clothing image avoidance and clothing purchase behavior. Self-esteem was included as a predictor variable for the three dimensions of body dissatisfaction. Data were collected through an online survey from heterosexual Generation Y men. Results indicated that self-esteem negatively influenced the three dimensions of body dissatisfaction differently; only the body dissatisfaction-weight dimension influenced men’s clothing image avoidance and clothing purchase behavior, when controlling for body dissatisfaction-muscles and body dissatisfaction-height. The findings were discussed, and implications were provided in the current study.
Highlights
In recent years, as more men have expressed concerns toward their bodies, it was found that a growing number of men in Western society expressed unhappiness with their bodies in the past 10 years (Jankowski et al 2014)
The self-esteem scale was adapted from Rosenberg (1979); body dissatisfaction was measured with the Male Body Attitudes Scale (MBAS) adapted from Tylka et al (2005); clothing image avoidance was measured with Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ) that was adapted and modified from Rosen et al (1991); and clothing purchase behavior was measured with four items that were adapted and modified from Kawabata and Rabolt (1999)
Discriminant validity was conducted for the two outcome variables—clothing image avoidance and clothing purchase behavior by comparing Average Variance Extracted (AVE) scores with shared variances (Fornell and Larcker 1981) to ensure that no items were cross-loaded
Summary
As more men have expressed concerns toward their bodies, it was found that a growing number of men in Western society expressed unhappiness with their bodies in the past 10 years (Jankowski et al 2014). There is evidence to show men’s dissatisfaction with their bodies, most previous body image-related research has primarily focused on women rather than on men. Extant studies have commonly assumed that body image-related issues and clothing behaviors merely pertain to women because most of the body image research has examined women as the main sample population (e.g., Frost and McKelvie 2005; Green and Pritchard 2003; Grieve and Helmick, 2008; Grossbard et al 2009; van den Berg et al 2010), with limited research focusing primarily on men (e.g., Barry 2015; Frederick et al 2006; Stapleton et al 2016). It is assumed that individuals may experience body dissatisfaction with different reasons, which may further cause various consequences, including their health-related behaviors (e.g., eating disorders) and clothing related behavioral responses (e.g., clothing image avoidance and clothing purchase behavior)
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