Examination of body images of adult males that engage into amateur bodybuilding exercise

Examination of the clinical psychology literature reveals that the term body image seems to be a variable of the researches that focus on the female body image but hardly ever address the male body image. This is based on the belief that women attach more importance to their physical appearance than men do. Motivated to change their physical appearance like women, men also engage into various activities today. One of the methods preferred by men to make physical changes is the bodybuilding exercise. Aside from being effective on the body image of individuals, bodybuilding is a sports branch that also strongly affects psychology since it directly affects the way individuals perceive their bodies. Whereas this sports branch and the body images of the individuals that practice this sport have served as a reference for various researches in clinical psychology to date, the social perspective have focused on the state of mind of the individuals that engage in this sports activity and the results of such activity. However, body and mental health are considered to be inseparable and supplemental to each other by nature, and together they indicate full wellbeing. There is no difference between an individual not content with the way he or she looks experiencing psychological problems and an individual not content with his or her physical appearance due to psychological problems. This study has been conducted to evaluate how bodybuilding contributes to the body image by comparing the individuals that are engaged and not engaged in bodybuilding and examining various factors. Based on this, it is intended to provide perspective to clinical psychologist that work on body image.