The construction of the adolescent male body through sport.
The present study examined the role played by sport in understanding adolescent males' views about their body. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 adolescent boys aged between 15 and 17 years. An inductive thematic analysis of boys' narratives showed that sport provided adolescent males with a context for discussing their body image. Attributes which males liked about their body were synonymous with those associated with being successful at sport. In addition, sport was used as a forum for competing with other males both through playing sport and by using sport performance to make favourable social comparisons about their body size.
Ricciardelli
Lina A
LA
School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. lina@deakin.edu.au
McCabe
Marita P
MP
Ridge
Damien
D
D000293:Adolescent; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D014739:Victoria