Research links boys’ body ideals to gaming magazines

University of Illinois researchers recently studied the impact of video game magazine’s depictions of overly muscular male characters on the drive for muscularity among preadolescent boys. According to the News Bureau of the University of Illinois, the study consisted of two rounds of testing conducted one year apart with researchers administered questionnaires to groups of two to five boys, separated by visual barriers who were then asked to report the genres of magazines they read each week. “The boys’ drive for muscularity was gauged using a child-appropriate version of a standard “drive for muscularity” scale. Drive for muscularity was defined as desire for muscle mass.”