Muscle dysmorphia, orthorexia nervosa, and life satisfaction among male bodybuilders

Abstract

Male Bodybuilders are at higher risk for conditions like Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) and Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) because it involves excessive physical exercise and diet plans in order to gain muscle size. The current study was intended to find out relationship between MD, ON, and Life Satisfaction (LS) among male bodybuilders. Male Bodybuilders are at risk of MD and ON that further affects their overall life satisfaction. Although having scientific body of literature these disorders are neglected by the psychological community and few literature is available on these variables. For that purpose, Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale (MASS) and ORTO-15 were translated into Urdu (National Language of Pakistan). Further current study was divided into two parts. Part I includes translation and adaption of scales, tryout, and pilot study. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) Urdu Version was also administered after translation and adaptation to assess LS among male bodybuilders. After completion of Part I, it was assured that scales are reliable to use in main study and direction of relationship between study variables was in same direction as proposed. Later Part II i.e., main study was initiated to test proposed hypotheses. Data was collected from male bodybuilders of Rawalpindi District. Sample included (N=218) male bodybuilders with age range from 14 to 42 years. Male bodybuilders with age range above 30 years consist of those professional male bodybuilders who are trainers and they work out on a daily basis to maintain their physique. Proposed hypotheses were tested through statistical analyses of chi-square, inter scale correlation, and oneway ANOVA. Results revealed that male bodybuilders having muscle dysmorphia are least satisfied with their life as compared to non-dysmorphic male bodybuilders. Further, there was no significant difference found on level of LS among orthorexic and non-orthorexic male bodybuilders. Moreover, it was found that there is a negative significant relationship between MD and ON. Additional findings, limitations and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.