Current research
Around 60%
This body dissatisfaction is linked to a number of consequences for boys’ mental and physical health. There is very compelling evidence
Six Packs and Soccer
In talking to parents of young, pre-teen boys, so many of them reported that their boys were wanting ‘six packs’. All of a sudden I was hearing the same thing from so many parents of 9-11 year old boys, from all over the world. Parents in Sweden, the UK, the US, and Australia- all talking about their boys wanting six packs. The only common theme was that most of the boys played soccer- my researcher senses were tingling- why are all of these boys suddenly talking about this?And then I saw posts on social media about the fact that Christiano Ronaldo- arguably one of the world’s most famous soccer players, and a huge idol for most soccer-playing young boys was spruiking the ‘six pad’ a machine that stimulates muscles electronically in order for you to get a six pack.
Suddenly it all makes sense. Boys have always looked up to idols- particularly professional athletes- but I hadn’t heard them talking about six packs, and expressing such a specific desire for muscularity before. Research Boy’s Bodies
So if your boys are talking about big muscles and six-packs, it’s worth asking some questions about what they think this means. What does it take to get a six pack? How much work and time? What does it mean to be muscular? Does that tell us anything about what a person can do? How healthy they are? Whether they are a good person or not? Just get curious and open up the conversation.
Muscle Building Supplements
Just as young girls who are dissatisfied with their bodies generally start experimenting with dieting, boys generally start making changes to what they eat too. Most begin by increasing the amount of protein in their diet, and are then more likely to use muscle building supplements. These supplements- like protein powders, are a huge multimillion dollar industry research
Muscle building supplements are widely available and have been widely adopted by adolescent boys. In our research more likely
In the year 2000, my colleague and I asked adolescent boys what (if anything), they were trying to do to in order to gain weight. Boys indicated that they were eating more meat, or drinking more milk- a few said they were using protein shakes, but the majority listed food-related mechanisms for weight gain. In 2012, we repeated the same question, and we were surprised to find that boys were now listing the brand name, or the category of supplements that they were using to gain weight. Over that time, the level of body dissatisfaction hadn’t changed that much, but what boys were doing to try to gain muscle had changed dramatically. I wonder what the responses would be now…
Why are muscle building supplements a problem?
Some supplements are fairly safe to use, like products that are mostly milk powder. These are mostly ok if used according to the instructions -but many adolescent boys don’t follow the instructions! However there are a whole range of substances that come under the ‘muscle building supplements’ area- and the three main reasons why the use of supplements are problematic are the 1) The lack of regulation, 2) potential side effects, and 3) the potential for the Gateway Effect.
One of the dangers of supplements comes from their lack of regulation; they fall into a grey area within the regulatory bodies. Because they are consumed like a food in powder or shake form, they are classified as a food, rather than as drugs, and they therefore fall under the lightest self-regulated category. No one is checking that the supplements are safe, and no one is confirming that they are effective. This means that some supplements can contain dangerous substances one study
There are also multiple reports
The other cause for concern relates to the fact that seemingly benign supplements can lead adolescents to want to take more and more serious substances. Termed the ‘Gateway effect’, this concept is well established for illicit drug use, and recently confirmed
My adolescent boy wants to use supplements – what should I do?
It’s important to keep open communication with adolescent boys about their desires to use muscle building supplements. Most boys gather their information about supplements from peers in gyms and weight lifting environments, or online communities of weight lifters- it would be great if parents can also open up a conversation about this to provide more balanced information about why they feel the need to use these supplements, what they are wanting to use, where they will get it from, and how they know it is safe.
My colleagues and I have just completed a trial of a school-based program for boys called Goodform here
There are also multiple apps that can give you more detail about the safety of supplements. ASADA also has a Sport Integrity Australia mobile app Informed Sport
