Zach Staffell, Katarina Huellemann, Eva Pila

Negative body image among men is often associated with concerns around muscularity. Although self-compassion is a promising intervention strategy that has been shown to alleviate concerns around muscularity, it may not be favoured by men if intervention language is perceived to be “soft” or feminine. According to Precarious manhood theory (PMT) which posits that manhood must be continuously earned in society, engaging in stereotypically feminine behaviours may be threatening to manhood. PMT further suggests that men can reassert their manhood following a threat by demonstrating stereotypically masculine traits (e.g., strength, power, toughness), which are often affirmed through muscle-building behaviours, like weightlifting. Since self-compassion may be threatening to men’s manhood, one potential avenue to improve men’s uptake of self-compassion is to reframe self-compassion interventions to be more congruent with masculinity (e.g., framing as “mental strength”). This proposed study will assess if a) self-compassion framing poses a threat to manhood, and b) if masculinity threat induced via a self-compassion framed meditation impacts performance on a strength task, compared to a mental strength meditation. It is hypothesized that men randomized to a self-compassion framing condition will experience a greater threat to masculinity, increased muscularity satisfaction, increased intent to engage in muscle-building behaviour, and increased behavioural response compared to men randomized to a mental strength condition. Together, findings will unveil if self-compassion framing threatens manhood and will inform future strategies to enhance men’s uptake of self-compassion and improve men’s body image.