| As men's bodies are increasingly objectified in modern society, body image dissatisfaction and concomitant eating pathologies have been on the rise for this population. However, the specific body image ideals of men are often unaccounted for in body image and eating disorder research which largely continues to conceptualize these issues based on a drive for thinness, rather than taking into consideration many men's physical goal of being both lean and muscular. This study confronts this gap in research by investigating an often overlooked body change strategy---consumption of legal appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs (APEDs)---which has become a critical mode by which men seek to obtain the lean/muscular physical ideal. Information on eating behaviors, legal APED use and related psychological constructs was obtained from one hundred and ninety-five men. Participants were over the age of 18, had consumed some form of legal APED within 30 days of taking the survey, and worked out at least two times per week. A scale to determine risky legal APED use was developed for this study and was found to be both a valid and reliable measure for this population. Structural equation modeling was utilized to demonstrate that internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness, self-esteem, gender role conflict, and body dissatisfaction each play significant roles in determining risky legal APED use and disordered eating in gym-active men. Further, the exploratory findings revealed in this study suggest that, among body-conscious men, excessive legal APED use can be a variant of disordered eating. |
