Linking Thinness and Muscularity Drives to Mental Health through Body Appreciation and Self-Esteem in Men: The Moderating Role of Sexual Orientation
Ahmadkaraji, shahrzad
Ahmadkaraji, shahrzad
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Abstract
Guided by the Dual Pathway Model and positive body image theory, this study tested a moderated serial mediation model in which drive for thinness (DT) predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms indirectly through body appreciation (BA) and self-esteem, with drive for muscularity (DMS) and sexual orientation as moderators and age as a covariate. Data were drawn from a secondary analysis of 650 adult men (Mage = 47.74 years, range = 18-91), equally divided between heterosexual and gay participants, who completed a battery of questionnaires. Conditional process analyses with bootstrap inference were conducted to test serial mediation and moderation effects. The results indicated that DMS moderated the association between DT and BA, such that higher DMS buffered the negative relationship between DT and BA. DT exerted no direct effect on depression but showed a direct positive association with anxiety. DT also predicted both depressive and anxiety symptoms indirectly through self-esteem alone, with stronger indirect effects among straight men. In addition, a conditional serial indirect effect (DT ? BA ? self-esteem ? symptoms) emerged that varied by both DMS and sexual orientation, with the strongest effects observed among gay men at lower levels of DMS. These findings clarify how body ideals are linked to mental health in men by identifying distinct conditional pathways. Body appreciation and self-esteem function as key psychological mechanisms connecting sociocultural body ideals to depressive and anxiety symptoms, with these processes varying by sexual orientation and muscularity concerns.
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Date
1/1/2026
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Graduate Student
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Oral Presentation
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Clinical Psychology
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College of Arts and Sciences
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Social Science (Stress)