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HPQ0010.1177/1359105315592051Journal of Health PsychologyCiccolo et al.

Article

Journal of Health Psychology

Muscular strength is associated


17
The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1359105315592051
men but not women hpq.sagepub.com

Joseph T Ciccolo1, Nicholas J SantaBarbara1,


Shira I Dunsiger2,3, Andrew M Busch2,3 and
John B Bartholomew4

Abstract
Muscular strength is a well-known predictor of morbidity and mortality. Similarly, self-esteem is a predictor
of health and well-being. The relationship between these two variables, however, is currently unknown. This
study examined the cross-sectional relationship between maximal muscular strength (i.e. handgrip and one-
repetition-maximum (1-RM) squat) and global self-esteem in 126 college students. Significant correlations
were found between both measures of muscular strength and self-esteem. Further analyses revealed that
these relationships were only significant for men. Based on these results, additional research is needed to
further explore the relationship between muscular strength and self-esteem, especially in other demographic
groups and longitudinally.

Keywords
college students, mens health, muscular strength, resistance exercise, self-esteem

Introduction
Resistance training (i.e. strength training or weight for mortality, including hypertension (Maslow
training) has grown substantially in popularity etal., 2010), cancer (Ruiz etal., 2009), metabolic
over the past decade (Blackwell etal., 2014). syndrome (Jurca etal., 2005), weight gain (Mason
When done consistently, an individual can experi- etal., 2007), obesity (Jackson etal., 2010), and the
ence increased muscle strength, speed, size, risk for developing a major mobility disability
power, endurance, and coordination (Ratamess
etal., 2009). These positive effects, in turn, are
1Teachers College Columbia University, USA
associated with improved physical health. For
2The Miriam Hospital, USA
example, muscular strength is inversely and inde- 3Brown University, USA
pendently associated with mortality (Zhao etal., 4The University of Texas at Austin, USA
2014), even after adjusting for cardiorespiratory
fitness and other potential confounders (e.g. low Corresponding author:
Joseph T Ciccolo, Department of Biobehavioral Sciences,
muscle mass; Ruiz etal., 2008). The mechanism Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th
for the health benefit likely lies with the impact of St., Box 199, New York, NY 10027, USA.
muscular strength on a number of specific risks Email: ciccolo@tc.columbia.edu

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2 Journal of Health Psychology

(Hicks etal., 2012). An area much less studied, etal., 2014) or physical self-perception (Moore
however, is the association between muscular etal., 2011), the research on exercise and self-
strength and psychological health. esteem is mixed. There are some studies showing
Early research investigating muscular no relationship between the two variables (Hubbs
strength in male college students identified a etal., 2012), while others have found significant
positive relationship between muscular strength associations in both or one gender (Molina-
and body satisfaction, and muscular strength Garca etal., 2011). Despite these equivocal
and certain personality traits (e.g. extraversion; results, it has been argued that participation in
Tucker, 1984). Other work has shown muscular exercise may have its greatest potential psycho-
strength to be inversely correlated with at-risk logical benefit for the enhancement of self-esteem
personality traits (e.g. high neuroticism) in both (Folkins and Sime, 1981). This stands in contrast
men and women (Tolea etal., 2012). A 2005 to the previously mentioned 2005 meta-analysis,
meta-analysis indirectly examined muscular which found a change in physical fitness to be a
strength by exploring the relationship between moderator of the relationship between exercise
exercise and self-esteem. Physical fitness, oper- and self-esteem (Spence etal., 2005).
ationalized as a construct having components of Overall, the current literature suggests that
physical health (e.g. muscular strength) and per- there may be an independent relationship
formance (e.g. agility), was determined to be a between muscular strength and psychological
moderator of the effect of exercise on global health, or more specifically, self-esteem. To
self-esteem (Spence etal., 2005). As such, there date, there has yet to be a published study
is evidence to suggest that a relationship between detailing any association between these two
muscular strength and self-esteem exists, factors. As such, the purpose of this study was
although we are unaware of any study that has to investigate the association between maximal
examined this specific relationship. muscular strength and global self-esteem in a
Self-esteem, an individuals overall evalua- convenience sample of college men and women.
tion of his or her self-worth or personal value, is It was hypothesized that individuals with
regularly associated with a number of important greater levels of muscular strength would report
mental health-related outcomes (Fox, 2000). higher global self-esteem.
Individuals high in self-esteem tend to experi-
ence less depression and hopelessness, greater
positive affect (Crocker etal., 1994), and greater Methods
levels of perceived autonomy (Marmot, 2003). Participants
Low self-esteem in adolescence and young
adulthood can be especially problematic, as it is Participants were 95 men and 31 women aged
related to a more negative trajectory of mental 1831years. All were graduate or undergradu-
health over time, including greater likelihood of ate students enrolled in a one-credit introduc-
experiencing depression, depression symptoms, tion to weight training physical education class
and suicide ideation (Lee etal., 2014; Rawana at a large university in the southwestern United
and Morgan, 2014; Steiger etal., 2014). States.
It may be that self-esteem varies with changes
in physical self-perception. Among male and
Measures
female college students, self-esteem has repeat-
edly been shown to be associated with aspects of Demographic questionnaire.The demographic
physical appearance; for example, body satisfac- questionnaire assessed gender, age, ethnicity,
tion (Sira and Pawlak, 2010). While there is and year/grade level at the university.
ample support connecting exercise and psycho-
logical constructs that are closely related to self- Self-esteem.The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
esteem, such as physical self-concept (Babic (Rosenberg, 1965) was used to measure

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Ciccolo et al. 3

self-esteem. This 10-item scale measures global into a position where the line from the center of
self-esteem (e.g. I feel that I have a number of the hip joint to the center of the knee was paral-
good qualities) on a 4-point scale ranging from lel to the floor, and returning to standing. Each
strongly agree to strongly disagree. There participant performed a warm-up set of eight
are five reverse coded items, and scores can repetitions using a resistance that was approxi-
range from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating mately 50percent of his or her perceived maxi-
a greater level of self-esteem. The scale is known mum. Subsequent lifts were 13 repetitions of
to be reliable and valid in college student popu- progressively heavier weight until the partici-
lations (Sinclair etal., 2010). pant could only successfully complete one rep-
etition (i.e. the 1-RM), which was within five
Body mass index.Standard procedures were trials. A 35minutes of rest period was provided
used to measure height and body weight. Par- between each attempt.
ticipants removed their shoes and height was
measured with a stadiometer. Body weight was
measured using a calibrated electronic scale. Procedures
Body mass index (BMI) was then calculated as A cross-sectional design was used for this study.
weight (kg)/height2 (m). Participants were recruited during their regu-
larly scheduled physical education class by a
Body fat. Body fat was measured using a dual researcher. Participation in this study was one of
hand-held multi-frequency bioelectrical imped- several activities students could use to make up
ance analysis (BIA) device (Omron BF 300; a class absence and receive class credit. All of
Omron Matsusaka Co., Ltd., Matsusaka, Japan). the data were collected during a single session.
Measurements were taken in accordance with Participants first filled out the questionnaires
the manufacturers recommended guidelines. and then completed the physical assessments.
This method has been shown to be a reliable The study protocol was approved by the
and valid indicator of body fat in similar Universitys Institutional Review Board.
research (Lintsi etal., 2004).

Maximal handgrip.Maximal handgrip strength Results


was measured (Hamilton etal., 1992) using a
Jamar hand dynamometer (Sammons Preston
Analysis
Inc., Bolingbrook, IL). Participants sat upright Descriptive statistics for the aggregated sample
in a chair with their elbow flexed at 90, with (means and standard deviations (SDs) for con-
the arm parallel to the body without squeezing tinuous variables and percentages for categorical
the arm against the body. The dynamometer variables) were run for demographic characteris-
was held in the dominant hand, with the width tics and variables under consideration. To mini-
of the handle adjusted to the size of the hand to mize the effect of outliers, we used Spearmans
make sure that the middle phalanges rested on Rank Correlations to examine the potential asso-
the inner handle. All participants were instructed ciations among self-esteem, maximal handgrip,
to squeeze with maximal force. The average of and 1-RM squat. Using an independent-samples
three recorded measurements was used in the t-test, we assessed whether there were differ-
analysis. ences in mean self-esteem by gender. Finally, the
correlation among self-esteem, maximal hand-
One-repetition-maximum squat. Maximal muscu- grip, and 1-RM squat was assessed separately
lar strength was assessed using a one-repetition- among males and females (using Spearmans
maximum (1-RM) squat (American College of Rank Correlations). The level of significance
Sports Medicine (ACSM), 2014). A proper squat was set a priori at p<0.05. All analyses were
began from a standing position, transitioning conducted using SAS 9.3.

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4 Journal of Health Psychology

Table 1. Demographic characteristics and baseline Table 2. Correlation matrix.


variables.
1 2 3
Aggregated
sample (N=126) 1. Self-esteem 1.00a,b,c
2. Maximal 0.21a* 1.00a,b,c
Age (years) 20.4 (2.1) handgrip 0.27b*
Gender 0.11c
Male 95 (75.4%) 3. 1-RM squat 0.18a* 0.62a* 1.00a,b,c
Female 31 (24.6%) 0.21b* 0.30b*
Race 0.13c 0.38c*
Latino 66 (52.4%)
Asian 26 (20.6%) 1-RM: one-repetition maximum.
aAggregated sample (N=126).
White 24 (19.0%) bMales only (N=95).
Black 5 (4.0%) cFemales only (N=31).

Other/2 or more 5 (4.0%) *p<0.05


Education
First year of college 25 (19.7%)
Second year of college 39 (30.7%) p=0.02), and self-esteem and 1-RM squat
Third year of college 28 (22.0%) (rho=0.18, p=0.047). Among males, there was
Fourth year of college 32 (25.2%) a significant correlation between self-esteem
Graduate level 3 (2.4%) score and maximal handgrip (rho=0.27,
Body mass index (kg/m2) 24.3 (4.3) p=0.01), and self-esteem and 1-RM squat
Body fat (%) 15.9 (6.6) (rho=0.21, p=0.04). However, among females,
self-esteem was not significantly correlated with
any of the variables under consideration.
Descriptive statistics for demographic varia-
bles, BMI, and body fat are reported in Table 1.
The mean self-esteem score for all participants
Discussion
was 33.1 (SD=4.8). Male participants had an This is the first study to directly identify an asso-
average self-esteem score of 33.4 (SD=4.4), ciation between maximal muscular strength and
which was not statistically different than that of global self-esteem. Overall, these results are in
females (p=0.21) who had an average score of agreement with other research suggesting that
32.1 (SD=5.7). The mean maximal handgrip there is an independent relationship between
for all participants was 40.6kg (SD=11.5). components of physical fitness and self-esteem
Male participants had an average maximal hand- (Spence etal., 2005). However, a unique and
grip of 45.0kg (SD=8.6), which was signifi- unexpected finding of this study was that mus-
cantly higher than that of females (p=0.00) who cular strength was significantly associated with
had an average score of 27.1kg (SD=8.3). The self-esteem only for men, not women.
mean 1-RM squat for all participants was Although our results are somewhat limited
91.5kg (SD=28.7). Male participants had an because the data are cross-sectional, there are
average 1-RM squat of 101.4kg (SD=24.1), several plausible explanations for the novel
which was significantly higher than that of results. First, it may be that muscular strength
females (p=0.00) who had an average of was a self-relevant factor only for the men in
61.4kg (SD=19.1). this study. Research on adolescents and young
A correlation matrix for self-esteem, maximal adults supports this, as studies have shown
handgrip, and 1-RM squat is presented in Table 2. that being perceived as strong is more impor-
Among the aggregated sample of participants, tant for men than women (Klomsten etal.,
there was a significant correlation between self- 2005; McCreary and Sasse, 2000). Cultural
esteem score and maximal handgrip (rho=0.21, norms have trended in that direction as well.

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Ciccolo et al. 5

For example, media outlets have continued to that muscular strength is particularly important
use men who are more muscular, idealizing for men engaged in resistance training, as it
the perfect physique (Olivardia etal., may be a reminder of their personal success or
2004). Moreover, the medias portrayal of the failure with resistance training and ultimately
ideal female physique has changed over time influence their self-esteem.
to resemble a figure that is very lean. This is Finally, it is possible that self-esteem influ-
dramatically different than the muscular fig- enced muscular strength in this study.
ure pursued by men (Olivardia etal., 2004). Specifically, those with low self-esteem might
As a consequence, attaining greater levels of have performed poorly on the maximal hand-
muscularity and physical strength may be grip or 1-RM squat, in part or wholly because
particularly important for college men, but they have low self-esteem. Research has
not women. shown that those with low self-esteem are
Other research supports the idea that physi- harder to motivate (Lachowicz-Tabaczek and
cal strength is valued by men (McCreary etal., nieciska, 2014) and perform worse on tests
2005) and is routinely associated with being that occur in public (Baumeister etal., 2003).
masculine (Grogan and Richards, 2002). For Given that there were no significant differ-
example, it has been suggested that for some ences in self-esteem between the men and
men, the purpose of being muscular is to pub- women, however, this is the least likely expla-
licly convey increased strength, power, and nation, as it would not explain why muscular
manliness (Olivardia, 2001). Given that all of strength was significantly associated with self-
the participants in this study were enrolled in a esteem in men only.
weight training physical education course, it is Going forward, additional research will be
likely that they all valued muscular strength to needed to further explore the findings of this
some degree; however, the magnitude to which study and build on its limitations. For example,
it was connected to their self-esteem or other there were 31 women in this study, and it may
feelings of self-acceptance, self-worth, and have been underpowered to detect a meaningful
self-respect appears to have been different for relationship between muscular strength and
men and women. Given the association between self-esteem. Moreover, this may be a unique
self-esteem and other mental health outcomes, population of college students, as all of the par-
it may be prudent for practitioners or coaches to ticipants in this study were interested in being
monitor self-esteem levels when working with physically active and enrolled in a weight lift-
young men in this type of environment (e.g. a ing class. Thus, it will be important to deter-
weight training setting). mine whether the relationship (including gender
Another plausible explanation is that the differences) between muscular strength and
men in this study, who likely valued being self-esteem exists in other populations (e.g.
physically strong, experienced and perceived a middle-aged adults and physically inactive men
recent change in their muscular strength. If so, and women). Other research testing different
this could have positively influenced their self- measures of muscular strength (e.g. 1-RM chest
esteem, as self-esteem is known to fluctuate in press) and self-esteem (e.g. contingent self-
response to experiences of success and failure esteem) will also be required. Finally, longitu-
(Crocker and Wolfe, 2001). More specifically, dinal research measuring changes in muscular
the self-esteem scores could have been more strength and self-esteem, as well as other related
reflective of contingent self-esteem. Contingent factors (e.g. motivation), are now warranted.
self-esteem can be defined as the extent to
which an individuals self evaluation is depend- Funding
ent upon a self-imposed criterion or event This research received no specific grant from any
(Crocker and Park, 2004; Crocker and Wolfe, funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-
2001). As such, the results of this study suggest profit sectors.

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6 Journal of Health Psychology

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