Investigated correlates of body image satisfaction and perceived weight class (underweight, average weight, overweight) in a sample of male domestic violence offenders. Men who identified themselves as either underweight or overweight reported poorer body image satisfaction than those who perceived themselves to be of average weight. Poor body image satisfaction was found to be related to increased risk for both physical and verbal aggression, the tendency to have been a bully and/or a victim of bullying in childhood, and increased alcohol use. Although masculinity was expected to be an important intervening construct, partially explaining the relationship of body image to the major predictor variables, it was not correlated with any of the variables in this study. Finally, perceived weight class was not found to be significantly related to any of the predictor variables.
The term body image is typically used within two main contexts. The first applies to misperceptions about one's own body size or shape, while the second refers to perceptions of how other people evaluate one's body Cash, 1989, Garner & Garfinkel, 1981 and Rucker & Cash, 1992. It is in the latter sense that body image is addressed in this study. Body image concerns may focus on the body as a whole or on specific parts of the body (Cash, 1989). Distress resulting from negative body image can range from mild to severe enough to impair functioning (Valtolina, 1998). Data on the reliability of body image indicate that it is relatively stable across time, suggesting that body image can be considered a reliable construct. In addition, measurements of body image have been shown to have predictive validity. This is evidenced by their relationship to a variety of prognostic and psychopathological variables (Garner & Garfinkel, 1981).
The nature of body image concerns differs between men and women. Women almost always report a desire to be thinner Cash, 1993 and Theron et al., 1991. Men, on the other hand, report both a desire to be thinner as well as a desire to gain weight. So whereas women may categorize themselves as either “acceptable weight” or “overweight,” men seem to focus on three categories: “underweight,” “average weight,” and “overweight.” Generally, men who desire to gain weight are not interested in increasing the amount of body fat. Rather, they have a desire to be more muscular Chan & Swalm, 1998, Davis & Cowles, 1991, Drewnowski & Yee, 1987 and Wang et al., 1994. The observation that male body image often includes a desire for muscularity influenced the design of the present study. That muscular bodies may reflect a masculine body ideal suggests that men with poor body image may feel less masculine and try to compensate through a variety of means.
