Men’s Body Image Narratives in Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

Men are an important, yet understudied, population in body image research. Body image is an important contributor to mental health and is pertinent to all genders. While research exists identifying major influences on men’s body image, what has been studied less is the way that men perceive, and subsequently narrate, their experiences with body image over their lifetimes. Consequently, the current study examines the way that men narrate their body image experiences through emerging adulthood, subsequently identifying prominent communicative influences. Eight men in the emerging adult age range (18–25 years old; M = 24 years old) participated in semi-structured interviews, and transcripts were coded using three-tier iterative analytical process. Results revealed two narrative styles in which participants narrated their experiences: The Family Fit journey and the Social Son journey. Findings are discussed in light of social learning theory, noting implications for future research and practical application.