Today’s teenage boys are feeling more anxiety than ever before about their physical appearance. Bombarded (向……提供大量信息) by advertising featuring well-muscled, attractive young men, teenage boys are experiencing what teenage girls have been coping with for years. They are afraid that they cannot possibly live up to the media’s idealized image of teenage boys. Young boys below the average in height, weight, or both suffer the most. Often, they are cruelly teased by their muscular peers (同龄人). Some react to the ridicule by heading for the gym and lifting weights. Yet even those who successfully strengthen their muscles don’t like the feeling that they are considered worthless if they lose their hard-won muscle tone. Others, convinced that no amount of body building can help, often withdraw from social contact with their peers. This is their way of avoiding ridicule about their size or shape. Although school psychologists generally recognize that boys today are having severe body image problems, they are at a loss about what to do to solve those problems.