Differences in the impacts of muscle dysmorphia symptoms on distress between heterosexual women and homo/bisexual women

Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) and its psychological impacts on women, especially within sexual minorities, are still relatively understudied. The objective of this study was to compare the relationship of MD symptoms and psychological distress between heterosexual women and lesbian/bisexual women. Our sample consisted of 479 Brazilian cisgender women from the community, aged between 18 and 70 years (M = 32.78; SD = 10.45). Among them, 327 (68.27 %) identified as heterosexual, 134 (27.98 %) as bisexual, and 18 (3.76 %) as lesbian. To ensure there was no bias due to measurement error, the psychometric properties of the instruments in the sample were tested, and invariance between the groups was assessed. t-tests, structural equation modeling, and latent profile analyses were conducted to comprehend the differences between the groups. The results indicated significant differences and a greater severity of MD symptoms and distress for lesbian/bisexual women. The implications of these results are discussed, emphasizing the need for further exploration of MD studies within sexual minorities. •Sexual minority women experience greater impairments in all tested variables.•In heterosexual women appearance intolerance (AI) was related with distress.•In sexual minority women AI and drive for size (DFS) were related with distress.•AI and DFS independently are related with distress in sexual minority women.•AI and DFS combined are related with greater distress in sexual minority women than independently.