Differences in Eating and Body Image Disturbances and Sociocultural Stressors in Sexual Minoritized Men by Sexual Self-Labels Submit to Discover Mental Health

Sexual minoritized men (SMM) experience disproportionate rates of eating and body image disturbances relative to their heterosexual counterparts due, in part, to exposure to sociocultural pressures (e.g., community-specific body ideals, minority stress). Research often represents SMM as a monolith, precluding an understanding of within-group heterogeneity. There is a lack of research examining differences between SMM based on intimate partner preferences or sexual self-labels, including “top,” “bottom,” and “versatile.” The present study examined how thinness-and muscularity-oriented eating and body image disturbances and sociocultural variables (i.e., sexual minority and intracommunity stressors, tripartite influence model variables) differ across sexual self-label subgroups, including those not identifying with any label. Participants were SMM between the ages of 18 and 30 (N=375; tops, n=104, bottoms, n=60, versatiles, n=175, no self-label, n=36) recruited via Prolific. Results indicated significant group differences in muscularity-oriented eating and body image disturbances, thin internalization, internalized heterosexism, and body stigma intracommunity stress. Versatiles reported greater muscularity-oriented disordered eating than non-self-labels. Bottoms reported greater muscularity-oriented body dissatisfaction than tops, versatiles, and non-self-labels. Bottoms also reported greater thin internalization than tops. Individuals not identifying with any sexual self-label reported greater internalized heterosexism than versatiles and greater body stigma intracommunity stress than all other groups. Findings highlight the role of sexual self-labels in explaining meaningful heterogeneity in eating and body image disturbances and sociocultural stressors among SMM. Future research should replicate and extend our analyses to elucidate the temporal pathways underlying these associations.