Male Body Image Portrayals on Instagram
Open accessAbstract
Men are faced with trends that give rise to the desire for a muscular and lean body; this may result in body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is associated with a plethora of health consequences. Social media has been named as one contributing factor for male body dissatisfaction. Up till now, women have been the focus of body image-related social media studies. Therefore, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of 1,000 relevant Instagram posts that were posted by men (and/or depicted men) to understand how the male body is depicted on Instagram and how user respond to those images. The majority of sampled posts showed high levels of muscularity and leanness. In addition, posts depicting men adhering to this specific body type received significantly more responses (likes and comments). Norms and outcomes related to health (i.e., training to be healthy) were more commonly shown than appearance-related constructs (i.e., training to become attractive), and promotion of physical activity was more common than dietary behavior. However, findings are potential harmful to men's body image, even if one considers that health-related messaging and physical active promotion was prominent. It remains debatable if men need to view very lean and very muscular men to encourage health-related behaviors.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Recent work has highlighted the need to further understand the pervasiveness of presentations of male lean and muscular appearance ideals on social media, and potential effects on internalization of the muscular ideal, appearance anxiety, and body dissatisfaction.
“Recent work has highlighted the need to further understand the pervasiveness of presentations of male lean and muscular appearance ideals on SM (Gültzow et al., 2020), and potential effects on internalization of the muscular ideal, appearance anxiety, and body dissatisfaction (Fatt et al., 2019; Seekis et al., 2021).”
From The Perfect Storm: A Developmental-Sociocultural Framework for the Role of Social Media in Adolescent Girls' Body Image Concerns and Mental Health. (2022) · cites this paper as Gültzow et al., 2020
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Ng, M., Fleming, T., Robinson, M., Thomson, B., Graetz, N., Margono, C., Mullany, E. C., Biryukov, S., Abbafati, C., Abera, S. F., et al. (2014) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60460-8 · Cited by 11,952 · see citing works
Multiple Comparisons Using Rank Sums
Dunn, O. J. (1964) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.1964.10490181 · Cited by 5,168 · see citing works
Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication
Bandura, A. (2001) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0303_03 · Cited by 4,328 · see citing works
Reliability of Content Analysis: The Case of Nominal Scale Coding
Scott, W. A. (1955) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1086/266577 · Cited by 1,853 · see citing works
Holland, G., & Tiggemann, M. (2016) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.02.008 · Cited by 1,395 · see citing works
Olivardia, R., Pope, H. G., Borowiecki, J. J., & Cohane, G. H. (2004) · Psychology of Men & Masculinity · doi:10.1037/1524-9220.5.2.112 · Cited by 614 · see citing works
‘Strong is the new skinny’: A content analysis of #fitspiration images on Instagram
Tiggemann, M., & Zaccardo, M. (2018) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105316639436 · Cited by 594 · see citing works
King, N. A., Hopkins, M., Caudwell, P., Stubbs, R. J., & Blundell, J. E. (2008) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803712 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
Desiring the muscular ideal: Men's body satisfaction in the United States, Ukraine, and Ghana.
Frederick, D. A., Buchanan, G. M., Sadehgi-Azar, L., Peplau, L. A., Haselton, M. G., Berezovskaya, A., & Lipinski, R. E. (2007) · Psychology of Men & Masculinity · doi:10.1037/1524-9220.8.2.103 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Wilksch, S. M., & Wade, T. D. (2009) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/chi.0b013e3181a1f559 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
On pins and needles: How vaccines are portrayed on Pinterest
Guidry, J. P. D., Carlyle, K. E., Messner, M., & Jin, Y. (2015) · Vaccine · doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.08.064 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Self-citationSupport for the uniqueness of body dissatisfaction from drive for muscularity among men
Bergeron, D., & Tylka, T. L. (2007) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2007.05.002 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Skinny Is Not Enough: A Content Analysis of Fitspiration on Pinterest
Simpson, C. C., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2016) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2016.1140273 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Orthorexia nervosa: An integrative literature review of a lifestyle syndrome
Håman, L., Barker‐Ruchti, N., Patriksson, G., & Lindgren, E. (2015) · International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · doi:10.3402/qhw.v10.26799 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Internalization of messages from society and perfectionism as predictors of male body image
Grammas, D. L., & Schwartz, J. P. (2008) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2008.10.002 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Coughlin, J. W., & Kalodner, C. R. (2006) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.01.001 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Body Type Preferences in Asian and Caucasian College Students
Barnett, H. L., Keel, P. K., & Conoscenti, L. M. (2001) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1023/a:1015600705749 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Gonçalves, S. F., & Gomes, A. R. (2011) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2011.11.011 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
From #mcdonaldsfail to #dominossucks
Guidry, J. P. D., Messner, M., Jin, Y., et al. (2015) · Corporate Communications An International Journal · doi:10.1108/ccij-04-2014-0027 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Self-citationReifegerste, D., & Rossmann, C. (2016) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2015.1110007 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Body Talk: Body Image Commentary on Queerty.com
Schwartz, J., & Grimm, J. (2016) · Journal of Homosexuality · doi:10.1080/00918369.2016.1150040 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Leit RA, Pope HG, Gray JJ. Cultural expectations of muscularity in men: the evolution of Playgirl centerfolds. International Journal of Eating Disorders 2001; 29:90-93.
- Pope HG, Olivardia R, Gruber A, et al. Evolving ideals of male body image as seen through action toys. International Journal of Eating Disorders 1999; 26:65-72.
- Perrin A. (2015) Social media usage. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, pp. 52-68.
- Instagram. (2019) Our story. https://instagram-press.com/ our-story (last accessed November 3, 2019).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Choukas-Bradley, S., Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., & Nesi, J. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/ju92a · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Choukas-Bradley, S., Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., & Nesi, J. (2022) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-022-00404-5 · Cited by 333 · see citing works
Tiggemann, M., & Anderberg, I. (2020) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.10.001 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“Ur a freakin goddess!”: Examining appearance commentary on Instagram.
Burnell, K., George, M. J., Kurup, A. R., & Underwood, M. K. (2021) · Psychology of Popular Media · doi:10.1037/ppm0000341 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gültzow, T., Guidry, J. P. D., Schneider, F., & Hoving, C.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gültzow, Thomas
- Venue
- Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-05-01
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 281-289
- ISSN
- 2152-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 2152-2723
- OpenAlex
- W3015680611
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 3.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- male body image, Instagram, body dissatisfaction, muscularity, leanness, user engagement, likes and comments, health promotion, physical activity promotion, dietary behavior, gender norms
- MeSH terms
- Body Dissatisfaction, Body Image, Humans, Male, Men, Health Behavior, Exercise, Social Media
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
