Muscle Memory: The Demographic Spread and Cognitive Precursors of Muscle Dysmorphia

Abstract

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a widely studied mental pathology that is characterized by an obsessive fixation with perceived flaws in one’s physical appearance. Individuals with BDD are hyper fixated on their physical appearance, never seem to be satisfied with how they look, and often adopt maladaptive behaviors in an attempt to address their dissatisfaction. While BDD has gained significant research and recognition, one of its newly classified subsets, Muscle Dysmorphia (MD), is left with many unanswered questions. MD has been recognized only recently by the DSM-IV and is characterized by an individual having an obsessive preoccupation with not being sufficiently muscular or lean. Individuals with MD often present with a strong desire to increase both muscle mass and their leanness, and tend to present with significant functional impairments and maladaptive beliefs as a result. Beyond the general scope of MD, very little is known about the intricacies such as demographic trends and the potential cognitive precursors and consequences of this mental pathology. This study looks to gain more insight into which populations are the most vulnerable to MD, as well as the potential impacts this disorder poses for the associations an individual makes within their environment, in order to gain a better understanding of the scope, cognitive precursors, and consequences surrounding this mental pathology so that diagnostic measures and tailored treatments can be provided. Specifically, this three part study leveraged a Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory, an Implicit Association Test, and a demographic questionnaire on 59 Princeton University Undergraduate students in order to investigate trends in MD and identify how the prevalence of MD is related to stronger associations regarding societal physique expectations for physically active individuals. This study analyzed whether gender identity and/or workout status are strong predictors of MD and its severity and whether or not there is a correlation between MD severity and the association of strength and preference an individual has towards pairing body positive terminology with physically active individuals (i.e. pairing “Athlete” and “Athletic” terms). Results from this study reveal that functional impairment increased as exercise engagement increased. Additionally, athletes and females had a greater prevalence of appearance intolerance, and female athletes had a higher prevalence of MD and functional impairment compared to female non athletes. Two non-significant trends found in this study that future studies should look to investigate suggest that MD severity increased with exercise engagement and individuals with a higher prevalence of MD tended to have numerically stronger associations between “Athlete” and “Athletic” terms. Future research should examine how the results from this study generalize to other populations and attempt to adopt a more statistically significant and predictive model.