How do I evaluate myself? The importance of examining muscularity-based self-esteem in risk for eating disorder symptoms

Background: This study examined whether evaluating oneself based on muscularity may be relevant for men and women and whether this form of self-evaluation may relate to eating disorder symptoms most prominently in men, who frequently present with muscularity concerns. Method: Young adults (N = 290; 50.3% cisgender women) were recruited from a Canadian university and completed a modified version of the Shape and Weight Based Self-Esteem Questionnaire and a measure of eating disorder symptoms. Results: Men endorsed greater muscularity-based self-esteem than women, although women endorsed greater shape- and weight-based self-esteem than men. Despite differences in the forms of appearance on which men and women based their self-esteem, multi-group structural equation models demonstrated that there were no differences in the associations between shape-, weight-, and muscularity-based self-esteem and eating disorder symptoms across men and women. However, shape-, weight-, and muscularity-based self-esteem were associated with distinct eating disorder symptoms. Conclusions: Altogether, results provide nuanced information regarding the importance of assessing self-evaluation based on muscularity, alongside shape- and weight, as increased self-evaluation based on these appearance domains may confer risk for eating disorder symptoms.