Appearance-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and suicidality among sexual minority men

William Grunewald; Jerel P Calzo; Tiffany A Brown; Jamie-Lee Pennesi; Hee-Jin Jun; Heather L Corliss; Aaron J Blashill

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.002

Appearance-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and suicidality among sexual minority men

Body Image. 2021 Sep:38:289-294. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.002. Epub 2021 May 21.

Authors

William Grunewald¹, Jerel P Calzo², Tiffany A Brown³, Jamie-Lee Pennesi⁴, Hee-Jin Jun⁵, Heather L Corliss⁶, Aaron J Blashill⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: grunewwr@miamioh.edu.
² School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA; Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: jcalzo@sdsu.edu.
³ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA, 92023, USA. Electronic address: tiffanybrown@health.ucsd.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: jpennesi@sdsu.edu.
⁵ School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA; Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: hjun@sdsu.edu.
⁶ School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA; Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: hcorliss@sdsu.edu.
⁷ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA; San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. Electronic address: ajblashill@sdsu.edu.

PMID: 34023807
DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.002

Abstract

Sexual minority men (SMM) are disproportionately at risk for suicidality. Furthermore, SMM are at elevated risk for appearance-ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction, which are both associated with suicidality. Theoretical recommendations suggest including interaction terms between appearance-ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction when examining deleterious health outcomes. To test these interactions and examine whether appearance-ideal internalization or body dissatisfaction impart greater suicidality, the current study analyzed associations between specific forms of appearance-ideal internalization and suicidality among SMM, and whether body dissatisfaction moderated these associations. Participants were 171 SMM recruited for an eating disorder prevention program. Analyses examined the association between thin and muscular-ideal internalization with count of suicide risk, with body fat and muscularity dissatisfaction moderating these associations. Zero-inflated Poisson regressions revealed that the association between thin-ideal internalization and suicide risk was moderated by body fat dissatisfaction, such that thin-ideal internalization was associated with increased suicide risk at high levels of body fat dissatisfaction. Muscularity concerns were not significantly associated with suicidality, suggesting that thinness concerns may be more salient than muscularity for suicidality among SMM. Future research should replicate findings among larger SMM samples and extend the current design into non-SMM samples to examine if results generalize to other vulnerable populations.

Keywords: Appearance-ideal internalization; Body dissatisfaction; Sexual minority men; Suicidality.

MeSH terms

Body Dissatisfaction* / psychology
Body Image* / psychology
Feeding and Eating Disorders / prevention & control
Humans
Male
Sexual and Gender Minorities* / psychology
Sexual and Gender Minorities* / statistics & numerical data
Suicide* / psychology