Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Models of Body Image and the Development of Mental Illness

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Body image disturbance and disordered eating behaviors accompany the deadliest of all mental illnesses and are increasingly prevalent. However, relative to women, researchers know comparatively little about how men experience eating disorders and body image. Scientific confidence in the validity of findings related to eating disorders also requires more representative samples that explore what variability there is in responses to these illnesses. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, the project would enhance scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations invested in discovering more effective methods for communicating science to the public. The findings of this research will be disseminated in such a way to aid researchers, clinicians, educators, and policymakers develop better policies and programs that anticipate and mitigate the effects of such cultural body attitudes on and mental health.Lawrence Monocello, under the supervision of Dr. William Dressler of the University of Alabama, will explore cultural models of body image and the structural influences that they have on development of mental illness. Responding to uncertain and shifting economic environments, rapidly globalizing media, and changing gender norms, cultural ideas about men's bodies and body image in the United States increasingly focus on aesthetic presentation over physical prowess (i.e., valuing the body as an object to be looked at rather than a tool for athletics, labor, or protection). This kind of body attitude that significantly increases vulnerability to eating disorders. By contrast, this research studies a population of men already mired in a cultural system that venerates an aesthetic male body image. This research will be conducted in Seoul, South Korea which is the economic, educational, and cultural capital, hosting its most successful companies, most celebrated universities, and major entertainment conglomerates. Researchers will focus on how men, ages 18-30, conceptualize male body ideals, attempt to enact them in their own bodies, and make meaning of their own individual body image experience within the larger cultural environment. They will develop a measure of body dissatisfaction that considers the culturally particular body ideals endorsed by that culture. Using demographic variables alongside measures of individuals' knowledge of male body ideals, concordance with body ideals, and body dissatisfaction, followed by long-term, in-depth interviews, the researchers will explore how each of these factors affects the development of disordered eating behaviors in men. Findings from this research will provide insight into how men living in cultural environments that endorse male aesthetics over brawn navigate pressures to conform to body image standards. These insights can then be used to develop interventions that will combat deadly body image-related disorders.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.