Association Between Emotion Regulation and Body Image Concerns in a Group of Adolescent Boys: Interaction With the Internalization of the Sociocultural Body Ideal

Abstract

This study examined the relationships of sociocultural body ideal internalization, difficulties in emotion regulation, and their interaction with body image concerns in a group of 423 adolescent boys. Participants were aged from 12 to 17 years old and completed multiple self-reported questionnaires. Regression analyses and latent moderation structural equations were performed. Both variables were positively correlated with body dissatisfaction, drive for muscularity, restrained eating, and emotional eating. The internalization of men’s sociocultural body ideal moderated the relationships between multiple difficulties in emotion regulation and some body image concerns. These results are in line with findings of other studies among adult men and women, and dominant theories of body image concerns, which have been derived especially from women populations.