State muscularity thought salience and muscle-building behaviour among young adults in daily life

The pursuit of muscularity has become increasingly important among young adult men and women, yet little is known about how muscularity-related cognitions and muscle-building behaviours unfold in daily life. Current research is limited regarding the salience of muscularity cognitions and how they relate to engagement in muscle-building behaviours in ecologically valid settings. Drawing on a muscularity self-schema framework, the present study tested within-person associations between state muscularity thought salience and engagement in muscle-building behaviour, and whether these associations differed by gender. Using ecological momentary assessment, young adults ( N = 97, M age = 19.45 ± 2.15 years; 19.6% men) received 49 prompts over 7 days to self-report state muscularity thought salience and engagement in muscle-building behaviour. Results showed a statistically significant concurrent, but not prospective, association from state muscularity thought salience to muscle-building behaviour. Sensitivity analyses revealed that engagement in muscle-building behaviour was weakly but significantly associated with increased odds of subsequent muscularity thoughts, consistent with short-term reinforcement of muscularity self-schema activation. Gender did not moderate associations. By capturing muscularity-related cognitions and behaviours as they unfold in daily life, this work advances understanding of muscularity as a dynamic body image process and highlights the importance of momentary approaches for identifying pathways to both adaptive and maladaptive muscle-building practices.