Differences in eating and body image disturbances and sociocultural stressors in sexual minoritized men by sexual self-labels.

Authors

Kathryn Pasquariello, Vivian A Lee, Benjamin F Shepherd, Alexa Summersill, Reza N Sahlan, Nina Michon, Urvashi Dixit, Rachel R Henderson, Tracy Tylka, Jinbo He, Wesley R Barnhart

Published in

Discover mental health. Jul 06, 2026. Epub Jul 06, 2026.

Abstract

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 stressors. Research often represents SMM as a monolith, precluding understanding of within-group heterogeneity. There is limited research examining differences between SMM based on intimate partner preferences or sexual self-labels, including "top," "bottom," and "versatile." These labels denote preferences for insertive, receptive, or either type of intercourse, respectively. The present study examined how thinness- and muscularity-oriented eating and body image disturbances and sociocultural variables (i.e., distal and proximal minority stressors, tripartite influence model variables) differ across sexual self-label subgroups, including those not identifying with any label. Participants were U.S.-residing SMM between the ages of 18 and 30 years (M = 25.43, SD = 3.01; 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, internalized heterosexism, and within-community body stigma. Versatiles reported greater muscularity-oriented disordered eating than those without self-labels. Bottoms reported greater muscularity-oriented body dissatisfaction than tops, versatiles, and those without self-labels. Individuals not identifying with any sexual self-label reported greater internalized heterosexism than versatiles and lower within-community body stigma 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 and mechanisms underlying these associations.

PMID:
42406256
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Jul 2026.

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