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“Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: The effect of fitspiration imagery on women's body image
Abstract
Fitspiration is an online trend designed to inspire viewers towards a healthier lifestyle by promoting exercise and healthy food. The present study aimed to experimentally investigate the impact of fitspiration images on women's body image. Participants were 130 female undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to view either a set of Instagram fitspiration images or a control set of travel images presented on an iPad. Results showed that acute exposure to fitspiration images led to increased negative mood and body dissatisfaction and decreased state appearance self-esteem relative to travel images. Importantly, regression analyses showed that the effects of image type were mediated by state appearance comparison. Thus it was concluded that fitspiration can have negative unintended consequences for body image. The results offer support to general sociocultural models of media effects on body image, and extend these to "new" media.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
... 5,17,19 Specifically, involvement in fitness exercises significantly impacts the perception of body image, as its performance may be linked to the search for the ideal body imposed by social standards. 19,31 The trend known as "fitspiration" is a predominant feature in the social media scene to motivate users to adopt a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise, aiming to achieve a positive perception of body image. 31 This movement demonstrates a great potential for influencing physical and mental health; however, what may seem edifying is often related to the objectification of bodies and the idealization of unattainable beauty standards. ...
... 19,31 The trend known as "fitspiration" is a predominant feature in the social media scene to motivate users to adopt a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise, aiming to achieve a positive perception of body image. 31 This movement demonstrates a great potential for influencing physical and mental health; however, what may seem edifying is often related to the objectification of bodies and the idealization of unattainable beauty standards. These norms negatively affect the perception of body image and may lead to mental health issues and eating disorders. ...
... These norms negatively affect the perception of body image and may lead to mental health issues and eating disorders. 8,31 In this context, some investigations have pointed out that adolescents involved in PA for aesthetic and weight loss purposes demonstrated higher rates of body dissatisfaction and an increased desire to achieve a slimmer silhouette compared to those who participated in activities not related to aesthetic purposes or who were physically inactive. 8,17 These findings also suggest that this relationship is regulated by several mechanisms, including characteristics, types, and motivations underlying the practice of these activities. ...
Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between participation in fitness- related exercises (FRE) and body image dissatisfaction (BID) in adolescents and evaluate the interaction between physical exercise and nutritional status in this association.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 involving 799 adolescents (10–16 years old) from 14 public schools in Curitiba (PR), Brazil. BID was assessed using the Body Shape Questionnaire and the Silhouette Scale. The FRE was classified as “does not practice,” “practices ≤300 min/week,” and “practices >300 min/week” by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents. Poisson and multinomial logistic regressions, adjusted for sex, sexual maturation, and nutritional status analyzed the association of FRE and BID.
Results: The BID prevalence was 28.3%; 52.4% of the adolescents wanted to reduce their silhouettes; and 48.7% did not practice FRE. Adolescents who practiced FRE >300 min/week had a 28% higher prevalence for some level of BID (PR 1.28; 95%CI 1.08–1.52) and a 46% lower chance of wanting to reduce silhouettes (OR 0.54; 95%CI 0.35–0.82), compared to nonpractitioners. There was no interaction between FRE and nutritional status in association with BID.
Conclusions: The adolescents who practice FRE >300 min/week are likely to have some level of BID and are less likely to report the desire to increase their silhouettes, regardless of their nutritional status.
... Fitspiration is an amalgamation of the words fitness and inspiration. It was proposed and marketed as an initiative promoting fit and healthy lifestyles on social media after thinspiration, which promoted a disordered eating lifestyle and inspired viewers to lose weight, was banned from social media (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Fitspiration content includes besides information on fitness and food, dieting and objectifying images of males and females (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018). ...
... No incentives were provided for participating. Inclusion criteria was an age range between 18 and 30 years Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015) and identifying as either male or female. Participants were further excluded from the analysis if data were missing. ...
... Eta squared of .075 (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015) was used to compute the effect size f = 0.285. Based on the power analysis this study required 99 female participants to answer the hypotheses with a power of .80 and an α level of .05. ...
Since the majority of body image research focused on female participants exclusively, this study aimed to investigate acute changes of state body satisfaction in male and female students through exposure to fitspiration pictures. Using an experimental cross-sectional web-based study design, male and female participants were randomly allocated to either gender-matching fitspiration pictures or travel pictures. State body satisfaction was collected before and after picture exposure. Statistical analyses included mixed analyses of covariance. In total, n = 360 participants (Ø = 22.29 ± 3.36 years) completed the study. State body satisfaction decreased after picture exposure in the fitspiration group and stayed similar in the travel group, F(1, 356) = 6.18, p = .013, η² = .12. This effect was significantly stronger in women compared to men, when including affective valence to the model, F(1, 355) = 3.88, p = .050, η² = .011. Viewing fitspiration pictures can negatively affect body satisfaction. Both gender and affective valence seem to be important variables that should be considered when analyzing the fitspiration–body satisfaction relationship.
... El relat va ser elaborat per la primera signant de l'article i revisat pel segon signant, amb l'objectiu de plasmar i denunciar situacions que ocorrien al seu voltant i que cada vegada estaven més naturalitzades. Així, el text problematitza a) la normalització de la insatisfacció corporal, especialment entre les xiques, que condueix a utilitzar l'activitat física i les dietes com un mitjà per aconseguir un cos prim i esvelt (Tiggemann i Zaccardo, 2015); b) la normativitat corporal que roman submergida en la pràctica de disciplines esportives; c) així com la creixent dependència de les xarxes socials i l'ús d'aplicacions on prima l'exposició del cos, fomentant la comparació de l'aparença corporal i, en conseqüència, alimentant la insatisfacció corporal (Burnette, Kwitowski i Mazzeo, 2017;Rodgers i Melioli, 2016). L'ús de la pedagogia narrativa tracta d'oferir a l'alumnat l'oportunitat de conèixer i aprofundir en les experiències viscudes d'altres persones, afavorint el desafiament d'aquelles creences que es donen per fet (Garrett, 2006). ...
... Especialment, l'ideal de cos femení que s'ha vingut promocionant a través de les xarxes és la d'un cos prim que, amb el temps, s'ha anat tonificant. És a dir, en l'actualitat, un cos femení musculat és acceptable, però únicament si roman prim i respectant els estàndards socials de feminitat establerts (Tiggemann i Zaccardo, 2015). Aquesta promoció de cossos 'en forma' s'ha justificat amb l'objectiu de seguir un estil de vida saludable que emmascara l'única i verdadera finalitat, aconseguir una imatge corporal empoderada, representada per cossos prims i tonificats com a sinònim de salut (Tiggemann i Zaccardo, 2015). ...
... És a dir, en l'actualitat, un cos femení musculat és acceptable, però únicament si roman prim i respectant els estàndards socials de feminitat establerts (Tiggemann i Zaccardo, 2015). Aquesta promoció de cossos 'en forma' s'ha justificat amb l'objectiu de seguir un estil de vida saludable que emmascara l'única i verdadera finalitat, aconseguir una imatge corporal empoderada, representada per cossos prims i tonificats com a sinònim de salut (Tiggemann i Zaccardo, 2015). D'aquesta manera, fent referència al concepte de vigilància de Foucault (2002), la normativitat de bellesa femenina controlada pel discurs consumista ha provocat una autovigilància i control pel cos com una forma de cura corporal (Gill, 2008). ...
... Since hashtag #Wellness is a rapidly proliferating trend on Instagram, with over 68 million posts, we wanted to explore this trend and understand this diverse and evergrowing cultural field as a public pedagogical site where people learn about bodies and health (Maria J Camacho-Miñano, Sarah MacIsaac and Emma Rich 2019). Although studies have critically explored niches within wellness (e.g., physical culture through fitspiration and thinspiration; Nova Deighton-Smith and Beth T Bell 2018; Alysse K Bailey, Carla Rice, Melissa Gualtieri and James Gillett 2021; cosmic wellness; Bridget Conor 2021 and Marika Tiggemann and Mia Zaccardo 2015), we chose to approach it from a broad perspective to capture the sweeping and multidimensional nature of wellness in society (e.g., health, employment, financial, relationships, spiritual, and so on). Our aim is to expand and complement the existing critical work on wellness (e.g., Conor 2021;Derkatch 2018;Kirkland 2014) by providing a critical, theoretically informed analysis of it (via #Wellness on Instagram). ...
... We identified that wellness was represented as an infinite project of the self, with an end(less) goal of an idealized, mostly white, lean aesthetic, which requires wellness labour, is achieved by simply choosing wellness, and is supported by an industry and its multiple subscribers (e.g., Instagram users) encouraging consumption of wellness. Together, the themes build from other trends in online health culture (e.g., cosmic wellness; Conor 2021; yoga; Bailey et al. 2021;physical culture, Deighton-Smith and Bell 2018;Tiggemann and Zaccardo 2015), by demonstrating how wellness is packaged as an aesthetic idealcommunicated via biopedagogies-that the individual is responsible to achieve for their so-called health. ...
... Studies by Boepple and Thompson (2016) have shown that fitspiration positively affects women's motivation to develop proper nutrition and physical exercise habits. Similar results were reached in studies by Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015), where the analysis Thompson, 2016;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). It is also worth citing a recent systematic review that analyzed fitspiration content on social media and its impact on physical activity behaviors. ...
... Studies by Boepple and Thompson (2016) have shown that fitspiration positively affects women's motivation to develop proper nutrition and physical exercise habits. Similar results were reached in studies by Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015), where the analysis Thompson, 2016;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). It is also worth citing a recent systematic review that analyzed fitspiration content on social media and its impact on physical activity behaviors. ...
The aim of the study was to assess the level of physical activity and other forms of spending free time among nursing students depending on the age of the respondents.
Material and methods
The research was conducted in 2023 and included 184 first-year nursing students of the Mazovia Academy of Applied Sciences in Siedlce. The subjects were divided into three groups depending on age (18–30 years old, 31–40 years old, over 40 years old). Physical activity was assessed using the IPAQ, and leisure time was assessed using an original survey questionnaire.
Results
Nursing students most often spent their free time watching TV, playing computer games, texting, browsing the Internet and meeting friends. Physical activity in MET-min/week was the highest among the youngest students and the lowest among the oldest (p=0,0061).
Conclusions
The respondents most often spent their free time passively. The age of the respondents differentiated the level of physical activity of the nursing students.
... Studies by Boepple and Thompson (2016) have shown that fitspiration positively affects women's motivation to develop proper nutrition and physical exercise habits. Similar results were reached in studies by Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015), where the analysis Thompson, 2016;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). It is also worth citing a recent systematic review that analyzed fitspiration content on social media and its impact on physical activity behaviors. ...
... Studies by Boepple and Thompson (2016) have shown that fitspiration positively affects women's motivation to develop proper nutrition and physical exercise habits. Similar results were reached in studies by Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015), where the analysis Thompson, 2016;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). It is also worth citing a recent systematic review that analyzed fitspiration content on social media and its impact on physical activity behaviors. ...
The purpose of this article is to review the latest research on socio-cultural considerations regarding promoting body image trends in social media.
Material and methods
Using the assumptions of the socio-cultural and self-objectification theories, the article explains the main consequences of messages promoting specific body shapes, both in traditional and social media.
Results
Among the most serious of these are a tendency toward social comparisons, increased dissatisfaction with one’s own body, mood changes and a tendency toward behaviors characteristic of eating disorders. The findings revealed were presented in the context of specific body image trends present on social media - Fitspiration and Thinspiration.
Conclusions
A review of information regarding fitspiration and thinspiration has been made from the perspective of the consequences of exposure to content and the elements that characterize inspirational images.
... Among the various trends, fitspiration has gained significant traction, with #fitspo exceeding 72 million posts on Instagram and TikTok's site-specific fitspiration hashtag #fittok exceeding 62 billion views. Fitspiration encompasses images and videos that aim to inspire individuals to live an active and healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise (Pryde & Prichard, 2022;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). It was originally thought that the presentation of a healthier 'fit ideal' within fitspiration would be less harmful than the thin ideal for female body image, as the fit ideal pictured individuals engaging in exercise and highlighted the importance of health and fitness. ...
... Nevertheless, the fit ideal is just as unrealistic and unattainable for most women as the thin ideal (Donovan et al., 2020;Uhlmann et al., 2018). In addition, research has established that exposure to viewing fitspiration content on Instagram leads to negative body image outcomes for both men and women, with increased body dissatisfaction, muscle dissatisfaction and negative mood among young men (Yee et al., 2020) and increased body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and appearance comparisons among young women (Prichard et al., 2018(Prichard et al., , 2020Rounds & Stutts, 2021;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Emerging research on the impact of fitspiration TikTok content among young women indicates a similar pattern of results (Pryde & Prichard, 2022) and suggests the need to examine TikTok fitspiration content further. ...
... Network analysis of studies on body image reveals that exposure to 'idealized body appearance' images on social media is a significant factor [9]. 'Fitspiration', a social media trend promoting a healthy lifestyle, has varied effects. Studies show that young women exposed to fitspiration on Instagram often internalize the 'thin ideal', leading to increased body dissatisfaction [3,[10][11][12]. Similarly, TikTok users exposed to such content experience higher body dissatisfaction and reduced self-esteem due to frequent comparisons [13][14][15]. ...
... Children 2024,11, 822 ...
Background: Social media have become integral in adolescents’ lives, presenting both opportunities and risks, especially concerning psychiatric issues like eating disorders, prevalent in this vulnerable age group. Methods: This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews with seven adolescent girls (aged 15–17) diagnosed with eating disorders. Interviews covered seven predefined topics, recorded and transcribed for thematic analysis. Results: Participants identified four key themes: exposure to selective content, biased interpretation, behavioural adaptation, and evolving perspectives during recovery. They highlighted social media’s role in exacerbating body dissatisfaction and altering behaviours related to eating disorders. Conclusions: This research underscores the critical need for awareness and guidance in adolescents’ social media use to mitigate negative impacts, emphasizing the potential link between exposure to specific content and cognitive-behavioural changes in those with eating disorders. Further investigation is warranted to deepen our comprehension of these dynamics.
... Two questions are related to the participants' average usage time, they are: "How often do you check Instagram (even if you're logged in all day)?" and "Overall, how much time do you spend on Instagram on a typical day?". One question is related to how often participants see fitness inspiration images on Instagram, which are defined by (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015), as photos inspiring ideas related to diet and fitness. The question used was, "How often do you see fitness-inspired images on Instagram?". ...
... This study showed that people who see fitness content more often have lower self-esteem and lower rates in all Body Attitudes Questionnaire variables. According to (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015), fitness inspiration images are described as sources of inspiration and motivation. However, a study examining this phenomenon found that overexposure to this type of content can have unwanted and negative consequences. ...
... Extant research has extensively documented the detrimental effects of appearance-centric media exposure, including greater negative mood (Z. Brown & Tiggemann, 2016), lower appearance selfesteem (Dignard & Jarry, 2021), and stronger body dissatisfaction (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Nevertheless, there is less conclusive evidence regarding the relationship between media engagement and appearance perception. ...
... Secondly, the mediating role of perceived similarity in the effect of beauty tutorial engagement on appearance satisfaction provides insights into the assimilation mechanism of social comparison. Previous research has predominantly focused on how appearance-based comparison against unrealistically idealized body images might negatively impact women's psychological well-being (Z. Brown & Tiggemann, 2016;Dignard & Jarry, 2021;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Nevertheless, the target and direction of social comparison could vary across contexts, especially when digital platforms and the wanghong economy have enabled many grassroots individuals to become influential online content creators (Guan, 2021). ...
... Ennek értelmében elmondható, hogy a fitspiration jellegű tartalmak csökkentik a fiatal nők pozitív hangulatát, azonban a negatív hangulatra nincsenek hatással. Ez az eredmény részben eltér a szakirodalomban leírtaktól, miszerint a fitspiration jellegű posztok növelik a nők negatív hangulatát (Davies et al., 2020, TIGGEMANN -ZACCARDO, 2015. Ezzel szemben viszont Cohen és szerzőtársai (2019) tanulmányához hasonló eredményt kaptunk a body positive tartalmak vonatkozásában, hiszen az elemzés alapján elmondható, hogy az ilyen jellegű tartalmak növelik a fiatal nők pozitív hangulatát, s csökkentik a negatív hangulatot. ...
... Ehhez kapcsolódóan megalkottuk a truespiration fogalmát is, melynek célja, hogy a fitnesz influenszerek ne csak a karcsú, tónusos, izmos testüket mutassák meg a posztjaikban, hanem fedjék fel annak emberibb, kevésbé tökéletes oldalát is, gondolva itt például a narancsbőrre. A fitspiration negatív hatása abból ered, hogy eredeti céljával szemben mely az egészséges életmódra és a testmozgásra való motiválásinkább a test megjelenésére, a kinézetre koncentrál (TIGGEMANN -ZACCARDO, 2015). A body positive mozgalmat pedig sokan azért támadják, mert veszélyessé is válhat, hiszen a túlzott önelfogadás propagálása könnyen az egészségmegőrző viselkedés leértékelésével és a rizikóviselkedés növekedésével járhat (CSABAI, 2019). ...
A közösségi médiában megjelenő tartalmak számos területen hatással lehetnek attitűdünkre és magatartásunkra. Azonban a közösségi médiában megjelenő tartalmak önértékelési problémákat okozhatnak és az önmagunkkal kapcsolatos elégedetlenség hiányérzethez vezethet, amely így etikai kérdéseket is felvet, különösen akkor, ha az adott tartalmakat vállalatok hozzák létre értékesítésösztönzési céllal. Kutatásunkban a közösségi média tartalmak vizuális elemeinek hatását vizsgáltuk fiatal nők körében. A felmérésben 93 alany vett részt, akiket fitspiration, body positive és semleges közösségi média tartalmakkal stimuláltunk annak érdekében, hogy ezen tartalmak hatását vizsgálni tudjuk a körükben. Az eredmények alapján elmondható, hogy a kutatásban használt közösségi média tartalmak hatással voltak az alanyok hangulatára, illetve az életmóddal való elégedettség esetén is sikerül azonosítani olyan összefüggést, amely hatással lehet a vállalkozások marketing gyakorlatára.
... This trend has more recently been driven by the social media movement known as "fitspiration" a term that, as noted above, reflects a combination of fitness and inspiration (Labre, 2005;Uhlmann et al., 2018;Wasylkiw et al., 2009). Additionally, fitness advertisements that focus on physical appearances and thin-ideals including when presented on Instagram have been previously shown to generate appearance comparisons among college-aged women (Brown & Tiggemann, 2016;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). ...
... In support of social comparison theory, women exposed to gym advertisements featuring thin-sized models regardless of slogan type exhibited higher levels of appearance comparison when compared to those exposed to Instagram gym advertisements featuring plus-size models. This finding largely supports and conceptually replicates prior work examining the effects of model body-size on appearance comparisons (see e.g., Brown & Tiggemann, 2016;Clayton et al., 2017;Hendrickse et al., 2021;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Moreover, these findings also align with the existing research demonstrating that individuals on social media platforms, especially on visually oriented sites such as Instagram, commonly participate in upward social comparisons (Hendrickse et al., , 2021Kirkpatrick & Lee, 2023). ...
Previous health communication research has demonstrated the negative psychological and health effects of depicting thin-sized models in mass media advertisements including on social media sites such as Instagram. However, gym advertisements are one common source for the presentation of lean and thin-sized models on Instagram. Therefore, the current study guided by social comparison theory and signaling theory aimed to experimentally examine the effect of thin-sized models relative to plus-sized models as well as slogan-type (health and wellness versus physique-based) on women’s appearance comparison, body satisfaction, perceived gym fit, and intentions to join the gym. A sample of 217 undergraduate students who identified as women were randomly assigned to one of four Instagram gym advertisement conditions varying in model body-size and slogan-type. Appearance comparisons, perceived gym fit, and intentions to join the gym were measured post advertisement exposure and body satisfaction was measured pre-and-post advertisement exposure. As expected, exposure to Instagram gym advertisements featuring thin-sized models resulted in greater appearance comparisons and lower body satisfaction than exposure to Instagram gym advertisements featuring plus-sized models. Moreover, the combination of plus-sized models with health and wellness slogans in Instagram gym advertisements resulted in greater gym fit perceptions although there was no effect of model body-size and slogan-type on intentions to join the gym. This study supports social comparison theory, signaling theory, and practically the findings indicate that Instagram gym advertisements that depict plus-sized models (versus thin) with health-and-wellness slogans (versus physique) generate fewer body image concerns and lead to greater gym fit perceptions.
... Within a community setting, social media users' propensity to share irrational and idealised images can be a cause of worry. TikTok trends such as "#thinspiration" (posting photos to stimulate weight reduction) and "#fitspiration" (sharing photos to inspire fitness goals) are connected to idealised body ideals (Cohen et al., 2019); the latter which may be linked to body dissatisfaction and reduced self-esteem (Robinson et al., 2017;Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015). Although, this is not isolated to the use of TikTok alone, but also regroups other social media platforms. ...
Background: TikTok, a social media application, has gained tremendous popularity in recent years, with a broad spectrum of users from all ages, different countries and cultures. However, major concerns in the field of mental health related to the use of such platforms have consequentially emerged. This particular research aimed to analyse the usage patterns associated with the social media platform, TikTok, and its cascading psychological effects among young Mauritian adults. Methodology: The cross-sectional study adopted a quantitative approach with a sample of 400 Mauritians meeting the inclusion criteria. A self-reported questionnaire examining self-esteem, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and mental health determinants was designed and administered primarily through online mediums. Findings: 30.5% of the participants used TikTok for 1 h to 2 h, while 12.3% used it for 2 h to 3 h daily, and the most prevalent reason for TikTok use was leisure (73.5%). Adverse psychological effects, characterised by pessimism (33.3%), restlessness (35.1%), uselessness (39.8%), anxiety (38%), depressive behaviours (36.5%), lower self-esteem (17%), and FOMO (41.7%), were depicted among the sampled participants. An increase in FOMO led to lower self-esteem (rs = −0.326, p < 0.05), heightened anxiety (rs = 0.467, p < 0.05) and a potential increase in depressive symptoms (rs = 0.338, p < 0.05). There was a significant difference in anxiety levels when perception of self-directed negative comments was assessed (U = 11,852.500, z = −4.808, p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study empirically revealed that the general use of TikTok in itself appears to be non-problematic; rather, its unhealthy excessive usage triggers deleterious mental health among TikTok users. The findings also pointed towards sensitization measures and psychoeducation towards the appropriate use of social media platforms such as TikTok.
... On the one hand, accessing health and fitness content on social media is useful for acquiring workout techniques, food choices, and healthy lifestyles; on the other hand, there is a constellation of negative effects of exposure to health/fitness content such as feeling guilty about not maintaining healthy lifestyles and feeling negative about one's own body (Easton et al., 2018). For example, compared to those who were exposed to travel images, individuals who browsed fitspiration pictures indicated greater motivation to enhance fitness, but they also reported greater negative mood and body dissatisfaction (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Together, empirical studies have demonstrated both positive and negative effects of exposure to health/fitness content on social media. ...
In light of extant research demonstrating that social media influences young women’s body image ideals, the present research examines whether these findings extend to TikTok. Three types of appearance-related engagement on TikTok (i.e., leaving appearance-related comments on others’ TikTok videos, following health/fitness TikTok accounts, and following celebrity TikTok accounts) were investigated as correlates of young women’s body image and acceptance of cosmetic surgery. Based on a survey of 424 young adult women, leaving appearance-related comments on others’ TikTok videos and following health/fitness TikTok accounts were related to the acceptance of cosmetic surgery. Moreover, body dissatisfaction mediated the link between following celebrity TikTok accounts and acceptance of cosmetic surgery.
... Dos años después(Tiggemann y Slater, 2016), se encontró un incremento en la insatisfacción corporal por parte de las participantes debido al uso habitual de Facebook, teniendo como un elemento importante los amigos dentro de esta red, ya que impulsaron la intención de adelgazar. Asimismo, la vigilancia corporal y la internalización de un ideal delgado se relacionan con un mayor número de amigos, que se encontró como un fuerte sentido de popularidad y estima entre las adolescentes.En este sentido, es relevante considerar a los amigos en RRSS como potenciales a contribuir en los fenómenos de un TCA, lo cual tiene semejanza con lo que ocurre en un entorno offline con respecto a la internalización de un ideal delgado, comparaciones sociales, y conductas de riesgo de un TCA(Tiggemann y Zaccardo, 2015). Entonces, aquí se percibe cómo el entorno sociocultural, y las RRSS vistas como parte de la cultura, están participando y reconfigurando prácticas sobre la percepción de la IC, sobre la remediación de la fotografía, sobre la interacción social, y sobre la propia consideración de una misma.Por otro lado, investigaciones que incluyen a personas en tratamiento de un TCA de forma grupal y su relación con Facebook, como el estudio deSaffran et al. (2016), consideran que la interacción tanto en esta red como en las RRSS en general, puede afectar a su recuperación, teniendo mayor riesgo de una recaída. ...
Desde los estudios culturales feministas, y empleando la etnografía digital multisituada, esta investigación tiene como propósito comprender el papel de las redes socio-digitales (RRSS) en la construcción de la Imagen Corporal (IC) de mujeres adolescentes latinoamericanas que tienen diagnosticado un Trastorno de la Conducta Alimentaria (TCA). Por lo tanto, la pregunta general que orienta este trabajo es: ¿Cómo las mujeres adolescentes latinoamericanas, diagnosticadas con un TCA, significan la IC, a través de sus prácticas en RRSS? Se identifica que las prácticas en RRSS se constituyen en función de su contexto sociocultural, las temporalidades del padecimiento y su historia de vida, lo cual cumple un rol en la construcción de su IC. En este panorama, también las mujeres encuentran formas de resistencia y acompañamiento frente al TCA. Por último, cabe destacar que esta investigación emplea el género como una categoría transversal, lo cual contribuye a los estudios de la comunicación y cultura digital desde la perspectiva de género.
... E x p l o r i n g T h e S p r e a d O f F i t s p i r a t i o n I n C h i n a A n d F e m i n i s m ' s S h i e l d A g a i n s t B o d y D i s s a t i s f a c t i o n (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015;Robinson et al., 2017;Raggatt et al., 2018;Cataldo et al., 2021;Rounds & Stutts, 2021;Wu et al., 2022) Tripartite Influence Model 3 Model (Thompson et al., 1999) ...
Background: The Fitspiration trend, replacing the thin-ideal with a fit-ideal physique, dominates social media platforms as the mainstream body beauty standard for women, closely linked to health and exercise discourse. Despite its appearance as a healthy alternative, accumulating research reveals a positive correlation between the fit-ideal and negative outcomes like body dissatisfaction and compulsive exercise. While studies have predominantly examined its influences in Western contexts, investigating its global impact is essential given the transcultural nature of social media. Additionally, countering the negative impact of fitspiration requires urgent attention.
Objectives: This study employs a portion of the traditional tripartite model of body image to explore: 1. Whether fit-ideal internalization mediates the relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media appearance awareness among Chinese young adult women; and 2. Whether feminist beliefs moderate fit-ideal internalization, akin to thin ideal internalization.
Method: Data was collected through online questionnaires from 303 Chinese women aged between 18 and 42 years, recruited via online social media advertisements. Moderated mediation models were then analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Result: 1. Fit-ideal internalization mediated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media appearance awareness among Chinese women. 2. Feminist beliefs were a protective moderator against fit-ideal internalization from social media, buffering body dissatisfaction.
Conclusion: This study underscores the pervasive influence and global reach of fitspiration through aggressive social media promotion. The fact that feminist beliefs may offer a potential avenue for mitigating body dissatisfaction also provides a path that calls for critical awareness, discourse, and actions surrounding this singular socio-cultural body ideal. Moving forward, countering the negativity of fitspiration is a pressing concern, and unraveling its embedded mechanism is also crucial for societal implications. Future research may explore how women perceive, navigate, confront, critique, and challenge the fit-ideal in their daily lives.
Keywords: Fitspiration, Fit-ideal Internalization, Body Dissatisfaction, Feminist, Social Media, China, Young Women, Structural Equation Model
... When individuals are under pressure to meet a certain body image set by these socially proximate others, they will internalize the esthetic standards in social networks, such as "thin" and "high, " as the evaluation criteria of their body image. These internalizations lead to unsatisfactory evaluations of their bodies and cause negative emotions (Fardouly et al., 2015;Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015;Hendrickse et al., 2017;Rousseau et al., 2017). Bartky (1990) first proposed the concept of sexual objectification, in which women's bodies and sexual functions are regarded as "tools. ...
Introduction
Adolescents are in the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood, a critical period for individual physical and mental development. With the rapid development of the Internet, social networking has become an integral part of adolescents’ daily lives. However, the information that adolescents are exposed to on social networks is often processed and embellished, which may cause them to become physically dissatisfied and lead to emotional problems, such as depression. We investigated the chain-mediating effects of self-objectification and body satisfaction on the relationship between social network use and depression.
Methods
We utilized questionnaire data of 2025 adolescents from two secondary schools and one high school in China.
Results
Our results demonstrated that (1) there are obvious sex differences in the intensity of social network use and active and passive social network use among adolescents, with usage higher among girls than for boys; (2) self-objectification and body satisfaction play a mediating role in the relationship between the intensity of social network use and adolescent depression, as well as the presence of chain-mediating roles; and (3) self-objectification and body satisfaction play an intermediary role in the relationship between active and passive social network use and adolescent depression; there is further a chain intermediary role. The findings suggest that social network use affects adolescents’ depression through self-objectification and body satisfaction, which is not only manifested in the general use intensity of social networks but also in their active and passive use modes of social networks.
Conclusion
This study provides theoretical support for the causes and mechanisms behind the influence of social network use on adolescent depression and has practical implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent emotional problems.
... During the study period, the types of sports that were mostly practiced were running, yoga, cycling, and various lifestyle sports. This is related to the phenomenon of Fitspiration, an online trend designed to inspire viewers towards a healthier lifestyle with an emphasis on exercise and healthy eating (Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015). Streetwear which was popularized by the hip hop subculture has a sporty clothing identification, but then the term used is athleisure, referring to activewear or casual clothing in everyday life. ...
Fashion are implemented with regard to social context through a variety of studies, including the examination of fashion style. The period between 2010 and 2019 was selected as the guiding time frame. The objective of this study is to present an implementation process of a fashion style in Indonesia, both in synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This qualitative research with a historical approach employs a variety of data source including literature data from journals, books, fashion magazines, interviews with fashion experts, and focus group discussions. The study proposes four dominant styles of trend fashion in Indonesia between 2010 to 2019, namely: modest, an emerged particular theme in Indonesia; athleisure, a reflection view of health and well-being; informality, the roles of millennial as leadership changes; and traditional, that represented the traditional culture of Indonesia. The finding of this study can be summarized as follows: The acceptance process of the four dominant styles can be attributed to the reflection ideas among fashion consumers in Indonesia. Additionally, the shift and the acceptance of fashion styles from 2010 to 2019 was mainly influenced by the affirmation process between role models and followers. Furthermore, the pattern of fashion in Indonesia shows different indications compared to global fashion trends, because of the cultural aspects as distinctive characteristics of fashion styles based on traditional values and meanings.
... Notwithstanding the aforementioned limitations, our study had notable strengths. First, in a field dominated by experimental methodology (e.g., [12,49]) we employed EMA which provided naturalistic, micro-longitudinal data. This enabled the novel assessment of temporal bidirectional patterns and momentary processes, whilst increasing ecological validity and the generalisability of findings [50]. ...
We assessed the bi-directional relationships between upward appearance comparisons on social media with body dissatisfaction (BD) and disordered eating (DE) in women’s daily lives and the potential moderating effect of trait self-objectification on these relationships. Women (N = 315) completed a baseline measure of trait self-objectification, then reported momentary experiences of social media-based appearance comparisons (upward, lateral, downward), body satisfaction, and DE urges (restrict food intake, exercise, overeat) for seven days. We hypothesized that upward (relative to no) comparisons would predict lower body satisfaction and higher DE urges, while lateral and downward (relative to no) comparisons would predict higher body satisfaction and lower DE urges. We expected these relationships to be bi-directional and moderated by trait self-objectification. Multilevel modelling results revealed complex bi-directional relationships. Upward comparisons predicted lower body satisfaction and increased urges to restrict food intake, which in turn predicted increased upward comparisons. Unexpectedly, urges to restrict food intake predicted all comparison types. We observed somewhat unanticipated bi-directional relationships between lateral comparisons and exercise urges, and between downward comparisons and body satisfaction. Uni-directional relationships emerged between upward comparisons and the urge to overeat. Trait self-objectification moderated very few of these relationships. These findings support the non-uniform impact of appearance comparisons on body image and eating concerns and highlight the complexity of daily social media-body image dynamics. Future research using refined measures over extended periods is needed to elucidate these relationships further and inform targeted interventions.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40337-024-01096-8.
... Dieting and workouts are identified by influencers as the perfect way of achieving body perfection. Furthermore, Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015) stated that lifestyle is the ideal position for influencers to adopt to attract audience attention. Gender and age are among the influential variables of social network behaviour (such as searching for diets and proper exercises) among the youth (López- de-Ayala et al., 2020). ...
The present study investigates the direct effect of Instagram use on various ways of losing weight, examines the mediation effects of body satisfaction and body image, and the moderator effects of gender and marital status. A total of 520 people who both used Instagram and undertook body surgery participated in the study and filled in the online and printed versions of our questionnaire. Partial least squares regression was used to test the research hypotheses and the relationships among the variables. The results revealed that body image mediated the effect of the purpose of Instagram use on ways of losing weight; however, no mediation effect of body image and body satisfaction was found for patterns and purposes of Instagram use apart from exercise. The relationship between the purposes and pattern of Instagram usage on body satisfaction was significant. However, patterns of Instagram use had no impact on body image, while this relationship for purpose was significant. The implications of the study are discussed.
... With the recent emergence of social media, there has been a trend of "fitspiration" originating from fitness influencersa trend offered by the internet to inspire people to achieve an empowered body image through resistance training (RT) and healthy eating (Tiggemann & Zaccardo 2015). Some of those influencers have gathered huge communities, spreading their images of perfectly tuned fit bodies and influencing young people to strive for the same (Rodgers et al. 2020). ...
Lifting heavy weights almost automatically elicits teeth clenching, which, if performed regularly, may lead to chronic trauma. This study assessed self-reported injuries to oral tissues in athletes and bodybuilders caused by resistance training and determined the association between self-reported trauma, performance level and the duration of practicing resistance training. A standardized questionnaire was used to gather information about the respondents (age and gender), their performance level (hobby versus competition athlete), experience with oral tissue trauma, the use of mouthguards, and dietary habits. From a total of 363 females and 239 males, 221 (36.7%) classified themselves as competition athletes and 381 (63.3%) as hobby athletes. Nearly 34.6% (n = 202) of the participants declared distress in their orofacial region during practice. Female hobby athletes reported 2.5 times more mouth-teeth-jaw problems than female competition athletes (p < 0.001). Females showed themselves slightly more susceptible to mouth-teeth-jaw problems with resistance training than males (odds ratio [OR] = 1.45, p = 0.076). Negative oral effects were found to be 2.1 (p = 0.003) times higher for those who had been practicing for 10 years or more. It was concluded that a higher number of years of resistance training increased self-reported oral tissue trauma in the current cohort. Females were more likely to report orofacial problems than males.
... The objectification theory has been proposed for more than twenty years since 1997 [1] . In the latest decade, with the prevalence of social media platforms across the world, many societies, including women themselves, tend to elevate the importance of physical appearance in evaluating the worth of women [59] . For this phenomenon, researchers have identified some specific activities related to the self-objectification of women, including but not limited to accessing selfies, fitness images, advertisements featuring idealized bodies and TV shows [5,19,60] . ...
Exposure to visual wealth on social media is a common phenomenon in daily life, but little research has been conducted to examine how this phenomenon affects individuals’ self-concept. By employing the social adaptation hypothesis of female self-objectification as a theoretical framework, the present research firstly investigated how visual wealth exposure on social media contributed to the self-objectification of women, and the downstream consequences linked to the self-objectification. To this end, three preregistered online studies were conducted. By adopting an online questionnaire survey, Study 1 found that there was a significantly positive relationship between visual wealth exposure and self-objectification, and economic inequality perception and competence perception played a chain-mediating role between them. By randomly assigning participants to the wealth-relevant image exposure condition or the natural scenery image exposure condition, Study 2 conceptually replicated the findings of Study 1. The following Study 3 further found that, participants exposed to wealth-relevant images displayed more preferences for an appearance-dominated job (working as a network entertainment-anchor) than those exposed to natural scenery images, and self-objectification mediated the effect of exposure condition on career choice. The current research provided additional empirical supports for the social adaptation hypothesis of female self-objectification, and also deepened our understanding of the relationship between social media use and the self-objectification of women.
... Although this phenomenon affects people of all ages, yet, it is most frequent among young adults (Vaterlaus et al., 2015), adolescents, and pre-teenagers (Tiggemann & Slater, 2014). As social media networking is seen to be utilized in a positive manner, on the other hand, it may also have a negative impact on people's lives such as in the idealization of exceptionally toned and slim body framing views as well as the rise of new social media trends in the online fitness community has raised the degree of worldwide concerns (Easton et al., 2018), particularly when people have been exposed to unattainable and unrealistic body ideals and contrast their physical appearance with peers and social media models (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). ...
Objective: As to date, little has been done to explore and understand the cognitive experiences of individuals with regular exercise at gyms in Pakistan through an in-depth qualitative analysis, therefore the study aimed to probe the cognitive experiences of the ones who had been into the practice of regular exercise and workouts at the gym. Method: The participants i.e., males (N=3) and females (N =5), having 6 months of persistent exercising were approached from Shapes Health Studio (Fitness center/ gym), Multan, Pakistan. The age ranges of the recruited participants were from 25 to 40 years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the data were analyzed through an interpre[1]tative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to interpret common patterns focusing on each individual’s experiences thoroughly. The Verbatim of each participant was transcribed to generate the emergent interpretative themes which were categorized into sub-ordinate themes and further into super-ordinate themes. Results: Four super-ordinate themes emerged: (1) influence of social media and social comparison, (2) appearance vs. expectations of body image, (3) mindfulness and improved quality of life, and (4) management of physical and psychological ailments. Conclusion: Movement gives life as it has been revealed from the super-ordinate themes that mindfulness, improved quality of life, and management of ailments like obesity reduce body appearance comparison pressures. Furthermore, psychological ailments such as depression and anxiety are also managed well when the social media influences of having a perfect body are reduced through regular exercise. It can be hoped that the current study will help raise certain persuasion as well as awareness among the population to maintain regularity in their exercises at the gym to adapt a socially active and healthy lifestyle.
... Male fitspiration pictures were analysed as average body weight (99%) with a high level of muscularity, while the focus was set on the upper body (Carrotte et al., 2017;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018). Research on exposure to fitspiration pictures or videos has shown negative effects on body satisfaction and mood (Barron et al., 2021;Dignard & Jarry, 2021;Ratwatte & Mattacola, 2021;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). However, fitness influencers are highly popular, with millions of followers receiving fitspiration content. ...
Several quantitative studies have shown a negative relationship between fitspiration content (appearance‐idealized pictures related to a fit and healthy lifestyle) in social media and mental health. The current study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of fitspiration users by qualitatively assessing their perception of fitspiration content and how it affects their health‐related behaviour and well‐being. A further research question was whether fitspiration as a form of public pedagogy was addressed in participants' physical education (PE) in schools. Thirteen female students from Austria who follow fitspiration content (14–19 years) were interviewed using semi‐structured interviews. Positive effects in health behaviour, such as a higher reported physical activity, exercise motivation and conscious eating (e.g., reducing junk food) were reported. However, participants further described potentially negative consequences on mental and physical health resulting from social comparisons with influencers. As none of the students reported addressing social media fitness content in PE, including or adapting a critical media pedagogy in PE should be considered to enhance awareness of the negative effects of social media but use the positive influence on health behaviour.
... While traditional media has faced general criticism for promoting negative behaviors like smoking or unhealthy snacking (Wakefield et al., 2003;Bushman, 1998;Bair et al., 2012), model observation may be inspiring for healthier habits (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). For instance, research by Sokolova & Perez (2021) suggests watching fitness influencers on YouTube helps maintaining motivation for exercising. ...
Social media influencers have gained significant popularity particularly within marketing research. However, their impact extends beyond purchase decision making, as they also have the potential to influence attitudes and behaviors through the lifestyles they promote in their content. This study aims to explore the role of influencers in promoting healthier habits, with a specific focus on home-cooking. By investigating how influencers can generate vicarious experiences through recipe content, we aim to understand their impact on individuals’ intentions to cook at home. Grounded in social influence theory, we build an original research model that we evaluate using self-reported data obtained from 213 French female social media users and the partial least squares approach. The findings of our study reveal that positive vicarious experiences are driven by the followers’ parasocial relationship with influencers, a sense of social belonging, and the entertainment factor of the observed behavior. These experiences help shaping followers’ intentions to imitate the influencer’s behavior, such as cooking the recipes they propose. Additionally, we found that the attractiveness of the recipes, the followers’ inclination towards novelty seeking, and their own cooking experience all contribute positively influencing this intention. Overall, our study sheds light on the ability of influencers to exert influence beyond purchase intentions. They possess the power to make a positive impact on their followers’ behavior by providing an immersive vicarious experiences and encouraging a shift towards healthier habits, such as home-cooking.
... Digital technologies, particularly social media, are now recognised as having pedagogical capacities [2], with a growing body of work examining how young people now learn about their health through these networking platforms, particularly those that are image based [3][4][5][6][7]. Furthermore, studies are beginning to reveal the ways in which these platforms may be contributing to the growth of body imagerelated conditions [8][9][10]. These body concerns have worsened following the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and the intensification of social media and fitness app usage during that time [10]. ...
Recent research has documented the relationship between the promotion of ‘ideal’, ‘fit’ bodies in social media, body image and associated body concerns and conditions. This article expands this scholarship, focusing specifically on gender, body dissatisfaction and social media. Thus far, body disaffection has mostly been understood through a psychological framing, as a pathology residing within an individual and strongly associated with poor body image because of internalizing media images. In this paper, drawing on feminist new materialism, I offer a framing of body disaffection as a relational phenomenon. The paper draws on a mixed method study in England, with over 1000 young people examining their experiences with a range of digital health technologies. I focus specifically on their engagement with social media, to explore the relationship between ideal images and body concerns. Far from being a simple process of internalization of negative perceptions or image one has of their body, disaffection is formed through the body via a complex process of entanglement with social media and other elements. I outline how disaffection materialises as part of an assemblage of elements, including discourses, humans, bodies, digital objects and platforms. The paper reveals how entanglements with social media can generate powerful affects such as shame, pleasure and belonging along gendered lines, which may have significant implications for young people’s relationships with their bodies. I analyse how social media events focused on the ‘transformation’ of bodies generate powerful affects, which open or limit capacities for what ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ bodies might become in deeply gendered and sometimes harmful ways.
... This comparison also extends to other dimensions of the self, such as physical appearance (Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). Comparison of appearance status is considered an important mechanism by which the media in many cases negatively affects individuals' body image (Robinson et al., 2017;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Specifically, users who were exposed to images of people engaged in sports who met the ideal of thinness or muscularity did not achieve engagement with exercise in the present study (Nuss et al., 2024;Peng et al., 2019;Prichard et al., 2020). ...
Social media can be an effective tool to foster values and lifestyles such as physical activity. However, it is still largely unknown what type of social media information helps to promote physical activity practices. This research aims to (1) identify the combination of variables that explain social media engagement in physical activity (SME-PA) and its relationship with physical activity behavior and (2) determine what type of social media content posted on social media could be most effective in promoting physical activity behaviors. Using a quasi-experimental and an experimental study, the findings showed that the conditions of high levels of information availability, social ties, trust in social media information, and opportunity seeking were present and combined in three of the four solutions (77% of the cases). SME-PA was correlated with the intention to improve physical fitness, and the physical shape, the type of benefit associated with physical activity practice and the gender of the person in the photo practicing physical activity were found to be relevant variables for improving the physical activity-related behavior of social media users. Finally, several implications are proposed to improve the administration of social media content for SME-PA.
... This leads to body dissatisfaction and decreased appearance self-esteem. These unintended consequences are attributed to social comparison (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). On Instagram, a study found that higher use was associated with greater tendency towards orthorexia nervosa (i.e., obsession with eating healthily) (Turner & Lefevre, 2017). ...
... Most research points to the "thin ideal" as being the prominent trigger for the dissatisfaction women feel toward their bodies (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997;Homan, 2010;Knobloch-Westerwick, 2015;Lee & Lee, 2021;Presnell et al., 2004). More recently, women may also desire a more "muscular," "toned," and "athletic" physiques (Homan, 2010;Robinson et al., 2017;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Additionally, the male body has become systematically more "visible" in media, leading to increased effects of muscularity-oriented body ideals on men's body satisfaction (Grogan & Richards, 2002;Karazsia & Crowther, 2009). ...
Introduction: Visual experience has a substantial effect on how individuals construct a template of their own bodies in space. Whether the absence of total or partial visual exposure in individuals of both genders allows the buffering of harmful effects has yet to be tested. This study examined the role of vision among congenitally blind and later blind subjects for the expression of body esteem and sociocultural attitudes toward appearance. Methods: Participants comprised 101 subjects, 53 sighted and 48 visually impaired men and women. For the purpose of the study, we took into consideration congenitally blind, late blind, and typically sighted individuals. The Sociocultural Attitudes toward Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) and the Body-Esteem Scale Questionnaire (BESQ) were used as measures. Results: Although congenitally blind, late blind, and typically sighted individuals showed similar awareness of media content and beauty ideals, typically sighted women displayed higher pressure to conform and had higher levels of social comparison. Congenitally blind women placed less emphasis on mass media as an influential aspect of their body perception and showed reduced internalization of beauty ideals and higher levels of body esteem. Moreover, men with visual impairments considered siblings and family to be the most influential information sources for their own body perception, while showing reduced levels of athlete internalization. Discussion: In this research, it was identified that the absence of sight influences an individual's body image beyond its physical, metric representation. Susceptibility to detrimental messages linked to sociocultural standards of attractiveness is interiorized by individuals with and without visual impairments, regardless of their gender. Implications for Practitioners: Further studies on body esteem and sociocultural pressures could enable practitioners to better understand how to support individuals with visual impairments in coping with an unhealthy social environment and with feelings of unhappiness related to their appearance.
... Similar negative patterns were found in a scoping review of 51 studies of social media influencers and adolescent health, which showed that health influencers promote unrealistic body images, unhealthy food, and substance use (Engel et al., 2024). These findings also dovetail with the wider work on harms of viewing Instagram related #fitspiration imagery (Prichard et al., 2020;Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015), particularly images of a sexualized nature (Prichard et al., 2023). For all these reasons, including exposure to the "fit ideal" and unrealistic body images, HIFs may show poorer mental health compared to non-followers. ...
How young adults access health information has changed rapidly with the rise of social media and the new wave of Instagram health influencers. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether following health influencers on Instagram is strictly beneficial to the physical and mental health of their followers. In this cross-sectional study, 1,022 young adults (aged 18–25) across New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom, completed a survey in 2021 of their lifestyle habits including measures of social media usage, dietary and exercise habits, and mental health. Results showed that health influencer followers (HIFs) reported more vigorous exercise (p < .001), higher fruit and vegetable intake (p < .001), and better well-being (p < .001) but also greater distress (a factor comprised of depression, anxiety and negative mood; p = .006) compared to non-followers, controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, education level, socioeconomic status, and body mass index. Higher distress was especially pronounced among those who followed food or diet-related health influencers (p < .001). Moreover, following health influencers disrupted the typical protective relationship between health behaviours and distress. Among health influencer followers, more vigorous physical activity was associated with higher distress levels. This was in sharp contrast to the lack of a relationship for non-followers, and the typical protective relationship in non-users of Instagram. These findings suggest that following health influencers may disrupt the positive relationship between health behaviours and mental health. Follow-up research exploring prospective patterns could reveal the exact impact of following health influencers on mental health.
This study investigated the mediating role of thin-ideal and t-ideal internalization in the relationship between media pressure and body satisfaction among young Chinese women (N = 291) and further examined the moderating in uence of feminist beliefs on these pathways. Controlling regional demographics and BMI, results revealed that both thin-ideal and t-ideal internalization negatively mediated the association between media pressure and body satisfaction. Furthermore, feminist beliefs played a complex and paradoxical role, strengthening the relationship between media pressure and both forms of ideal internalization, while simultaneously mitigating the negative impact of these internalized ideals on body satisfaction. These ndings highlight the culturally speci c nuances of body image ideals and the complex interplay of feminist beliefs in navigating sociocultural pressures related to appearance. The study underscores the need for culturally sensitive approaches to promoting positive body image among young women in China and suggests the potential value of integrating feminist principles into body image issues.
This study aimed to understand the impact of social media on postpartum mothers’ parenting confidence among participants in the Moms on Media Study, an experimental mixed methods study.
We used an embedded mixed methods approach among a sample of postpartum mothers of infants aged 0–6 months who were randomly assigned to view either body focused social media posts (experimental group, n = 65) or infant feeding tips (control group, n = 67) over a 5 day period. ANCOVA was used to examine differences between the experimental and control group on parenting confidence at post-intervention and 1 month follow-up. A subsample of mothers in the experimental group (n = 20) took part in semi-structured interviews post-intervention. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and subthemes generated from the data.
Counter to expectations, ANCOVA results show that at post-intervention mothers who viewed the body-focused posts scored significantly higher for total parenting confidence (mean difference = 1.36), parenting confidence (mean difference = 0.89), and support confidence (mean difference = 0.53). These differences in total parenting confidence (mean difference = 2.03), parenting confidence (mean difference = 1.40) and support confidence (mean difference = 0.50) were sustained at 1-month follow up. No significant differences were found for child development confidence between the experimental and control group at either post-intervention or 1-month follow-up. Qualitative analysis revealed that many mothers described feeling better about their parenting after viewing body-focused social media posts where they felt mothers were overly focused on their own image versus spending time with their child as a “good” mother “should.”
Body-focused social media posts may lead to downward social comparison among postpartum mothers. Findings may help inform interventions or clinical care focused on healthy social media exposure and use during the postpartum period.
Introducción: Las redes sociales han cambiado la forma en que se comunica y consume contenido relacionado con el deporte y el ejercicio. Atletas y clubes utilizan estas plataformas, mientras que la industria del fitness emplea aplicaciones en sus estrategias. Durante la pandemia de COVID-19, el uso de redes para ejercitarse creció debido al confinamiento. Metodología: Este artículo se basa en un análisis de la comunidad #Yoentrenoencasa en Instagram, centrado en identificar riesgos asociados al contenido fitness, como estereotipos de género y la difusión de información no confiable. Resultados: El análisis reveló la existencia de riesgos en el contenido relacionado con el ejercicio, como la perpetuación de estereotipos de belleza irreales y la dificultad para verificar la calidad de la información. Discusión: Se discuten las implicaciones del uso irresponsable de redes sociales en la difusión de contenido fitness, y cómo esto puede afectar la percepción de la salud y la imagen corporal de los usuarios. Conclusiones: Se propone un decálogo para identificar red flags en el contenido fitness, fomentando la alfabetización digital y promoviendo un uso más responsable de las redes sociales en el ámbito del ejercicio físico.
Objective
Although social media use, such as Instagram, has been associated with ED pathology, mechanisms connecting social media use to disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) remain largely unevaluated. Based on Dual Process, Tripartite, and Affect Regulation models of ED pathology, we proposed a moderated mediation model evaluating impacts of exposure to fitspiration/thinspiration on Instagram.
Method
We evaluated a hypothesized pathway from exposure to fitspiration/thinspiration (i.e., ED‐salient content) on Instagram to disordered eating mediated by negative affect and tested individual differences in weight bias internalization, trait self‐esteem, and trait self‐comparison as moderators. We recruited 173 undergraduate women who reported engaging in DEBs on average at least once per week over the past 3 months. Participants completed a seven‐day ecological momentary assessment protocol, during which they reported their ED‐salient content exposure on Instagram, affect, and engagement in DEBs.
Results
Multilevel modeling was used to assess moderated mediation. Negative affect partially mediated associations between viewing ED‐salient content and subsequent engagement in objective binge eating and restricting but did not mediate the pathway to purging or excessive exercise. Higher weight bias internalization intensified the association between viewing ED‐salient content and negative affect.
Discussion
The association between viewing ED‐salient content and engaging in objective binge eating and restricting may be a partial consequence of elevated negative affect; however, effects were small. Individuals with higher weight bias internalization may be more vulnerable to negative consequences from viewing ED‐salient content. Findings suggested that reducing negative affect responses (e.g., via emotion regulation) could reduce negative consequences of viewing ED‐salient content.
We współczesnym świecie media społecznościowe odgrywają istotną rolę w kształtowaniu stylu życia jednostek. Kobiety oceniane są głównie ze względu na swój wizerunek i starają się sprostać zmieniającym się normom piękna. Nadmierne dyscyplinowanie kobiecych ciał doprowadziło do sytuacji, w której zaburzenia odżywiania zostały uznane za chorobę cywilizacyjną (Wojnarska, 2019). Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie głównych wniosków z badań medialnych przekazów dotyczących trendu fitspiration w latach 2016–2023. Autorka poddała analizie recenzowane artykuły naukowe w języku angielskim, korzystając z baz ScienceDirect, EBSCO oraz Google Scholar. Na ich podstawie można wnioskować, że fitspiration jest rozwijającym się, niebezpiecznym trendem cyfrowym. Pomimo jego prozdrowotnych cech większość badań wskazuje na negatywny aspekt powiązany z niezadowoleniem z ciała oraz niekorzystnymi zachowaniami żywieniowymi młodych kobiet. Uznano również, że obrazy fit sylwetek wywierają na kobiety silną presję. Co więcej, stwierdzono, że proces samoizolacji spowodowanej pandemią zwiększył popularność social mediów promujących negatywne treści fitspiration (Cataldo et al., 2022).
A informatização da Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) brasileira tem emergido como uma nova tendência de comunicação entre serviços de saúde e usuários. Nesse sentido, são utilizadas mídias sociais por profissionais de saúde como meio de disseminação de notícias e incremento da educação em saúde. Dentre as mídias sociais utilizadas com esse fim, o Instagram tem exercido papel importante na promoção da saúde pública. Esta pesquisa mapeou as ações de Saúde Digital desenvolvidas por profissionais da APS no município de Natal/RN através da plataforma Instagram. Trata-se de um Estudo de Caso, recorrendo à técnica de Análise Documental com uma pré-analise na perspectiva de Cellard, seguida por uma análise quantitativa com distribuição de frequências. Os dados da pesquisa foram coletados no período de março a julho de 2023, nas páginas virtuais das unidades de saúde da família e unidades básicas de saúde em Natal-RN. Os resultados observados revelam que a utilização da plataforma ganhou força após a pandemia do COVID-19 e que equipes que dispõem das tecnologias de informação e comunicação inseridas nas suas realidades de trabalho podem implementar ações de Saúde Digital por intermédio de iniciativas desenvolvidas na esfera das mídias sociais. Ainda assim, destaca-se que a falta de articulação das ações realizadas e a necessidade de aperfeiçoamento das iniciativas observadas neste estudo revelam as incipiências de ações de saúde por ferramentas digitais e expõem a importância de infraestrutura tecnológica, literacia digital e infoinclusão destinadas à sociedade e aos profissionais da saúde.
This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the global discourse on the hijab on Instagram, a key platform for cultural and fashion expressions. Employing a mixed-methods approach, it examines a dataset of 100,000 Instagram posts to explore representations and discussions of the hijab in online communities. The study includes temporal analysis of discourse evolution, text classification of narratives using advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques like topic modelling and sentiment analysis, and network analysis of community interactions. Key findings reveal the multifaceted nature of the hijab discourse, encompassing themes of fashion, religion and community. The temporal analysis uncovers peaks in hijab-related posts from October 2021 onwards and between May and July 2022, coinciding with Islamic events and the rise of modest fashion. Sentiment analysis indicates a generally positive and neutral perception of the hijab, while emotion analysis highlights joy, anticipation and trust as dominant emotions. Text classification identifies five main topics: hijab styles and fashion, sizing and shipping, colours and product types, religion and spirituality, and product orders. Network analysis visualizes the interconnected nature of these themes and communities. The study makes original contributions by shedding light on the ‘hijabista’ phenomenon, representing Muslim women who blend fashion with modesty on Instagram, and by demonstrating Instagram’s role in shaping contemporary hijab discourse related to identity, empowerment and cultural representation. The findings enhance understanding of social media’s impact on cultural discourses and offer valuable insights into the social and cultural implications of these online narratives for scholars, businesses and policy-makers.
This research contributes to the ongoing discussion on the impact of influencer content exposure on individuals’ body perception. Two crucial aspects distinguish our study: firstly, our investigation centers on adolescents, a group actively shaping their beliefs and highly susceptible to body image messages. Secondly, we specifically examine sponsored influencers' posts designed to persuade, a factor often unclear to children and adolescents. Presenting the findings of a survey study conducted among 1,055 Spanish adolescents aged 11 to 17, we explore how body image concerns related to fitfluencers influence the connection between body image self-discrepancy, body satisfaction, and exercise intention. Our study reveals that girls, but not boys, with greater body image self-discrepancy, experience heightened body image concerns when exposed to sponsored fitspiration content posted by influencers, subsequently leading to decreased body satisfaction. Notably, these body image concerns also positively contribute to health-based exercise motivation. By focusing on adolescents and sponsored influencer content, our research provides valuable insights into the complexities of body image perceptions and motivations for exercise.
In contemporary society, the discourse on body image is increasingly emerging as a notable social issue. In particular, the body positivity movement is promoting healthy body image and self-esteem through various means. This study was conducted to analyze the discourse on sustainable body image in Korean society. User-generated content from 1 January 2014 to 31 July 2023 underwent data refinement and term frequency (TF), TF–inverse document frequency (TF–IDF), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) analyses. The number of blog posts in 2020 was nearly triple the number in 2019. Thus, the analysis period was divided into first (from 2014 to 2019) and second (from 2020 to 31 July 2023) periods. The TF–IDF analysis showed that shooting, photo, diet, exercise, goal, and challenge were among the top words in the first period, while Instagram-related words were mosr frequent in the second period. This finding suggested that social distancing policies significantly affected social media usage. The LDA analysis revealed five topics that were common in the first and second periods and three topics that emerged in the second period. Overall, while Western societies tend to idealize specific body types, body image discourse in Korea is centered around exercise as a means to achieve “photography” or “photo shoot”-related goals. Exercise is perceived as an activity performed for pleasure rather than attaining a particular body shape. Furthermore, there is a desire to document one’s body beautifully and maintain exercise habits in the long run. The results of this study could serve as foundational material for establishing and sustaining a positive body image culture.
There has been an assumption in the literature that the three concepts of ideal body shape (personal ideal,
cultural ideal, and the most attractive body shape) are effectively the same percept. To test this presumption, 554
participants completed either a between- or within-subjects condition using a matrix of 32 bodies varying in two
dimensions: muscle and adiposity. Three separate groups of participants were recruited to the between-subjects
design and made only one of these judgements, whilst participants in the within-subjects version completed all
three of these judgments. These bodies are based on 3D scans of 221 women’s bodies and so accurately represent
the change in size and shape caused by changing body composition. The participants also completed a set of
psychometric questionnaires to index the degree to which external concepts of body image have been internalised.
The results show that in both conditions, all three judgements collapse onto the same average preferred
body shape, with low adiposity and relatively high muscularity. However, this masked systematic differences in
responses between personal ideals and the other body judgements, which may be explained by a difference in
how information directly related to oneself is processed relative to more abstract third person judgements.
Introducción. Los sistemas de vigilancia que permiten recopilar, procesar e interpretar datos oportunamente son fundamentales para mitigar la resistencia a los antibióticos. Objetivo. Describir las características de los sistemas de vigilancia de resistencia a los antibióticos en Colombia y las Américas, e identificar las herramientas y componentes necesarios de un sistema de vigilancia efectivo desde un enfoque de “una salud” (One Health). Materiales y métodos. En esta revisión de alcance, se buscó la literatura publicada en las bases de datos LILACS y MedLine entre el 2000 y el 2022. Se incluyeron estudios sobre sistemas de vigilancia de resistencia a los antibióticos en las Américas, en inglés o español. Además, se hizo una búsqueda de la literatura gris en fuentes gubernamentales de cada país. Las características de los estudios incluidos se sintetizaron en párrafos y tablas. Se identificaron los sistemas con una perspectiva multisectorial y las herramientas y componentes necesarios para un sistema de vigilancia con enfoque de One Health. Resultados. Se identificaron 988 publicaciones y 78 fueron incluidas en esta revisión de alcance. Se encontraron 61 reportes de sistemas de vigilancia ya implementados, 14 planes estratégicos, 2 protocolos de vigilancia y 1 proyecto piloto. La mayoría de las publicaciones (n=54) enfocan la vigilancia en un solo sector (salud humana o animal), 24 publicaciones integran más de un sector involucrado en la resistencia a antibióticos y 10 de estas tienen un enfoque de One Health; la mayoría eran planes estratégicos. Conclusión. Múltiples países de las américas están diseñando e implementando planes para integrar la vigilancia de la resistencia a antibióticos con un enfoque de One Health. Palabras clave:One Health; sistema de vigilancia; Américas; resistencia a los antibióticos.Referencias1. Hoelzer K, Wong N, Thomas J, Talkington K, Jungman E, Coukell A. Antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals and associated human health risks: What, and how strong, is the evidence? BMC Vet Res. 2017;13:1-38. 2. Fossaert H, Llopis A, Tigre CH. Sistemas de vigilancia epidemiológica. Bol Of Sanit Panam. 1974;76:512-28. 3. Kahn LH. Antimicrobial resistance: A One Health perspective. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2017;111:255-60. https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trx050 4. Aenishaenslin C, Häsler B, Ravel A, Parmley EJ, Mediouni S, Bennani H, et al. Evaluating the integration of One Health in surveillance systems for antimicrobial use and resistance: A conceptual framework. Front Vet Sci. 2021;8.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although there is a voluminous literature on mass media effects on body image concerns of young adult women in the U.S., there has been relatively little theoretically-driven research on processes and effects of social media on young women’s body image and self-perceptions. Yet given the heavy online presence of young adults, particularly women, and their reliance on social media, it is important to appreciate ways that social media can influence perceptions of body image and body image disturbance. Drawing on communication and social psychological theories, the present article articulates a series of ideas and a framework to guide research on social media effects on body image concerns of young adult women. The interactive format and content features of social media, such as the strong peer presence and exchange of a multitude of visual images, suggest that social media, working via negative social comparisons, transportation, and peer normative processes, can significantly influence body image concerns. A model is proposed that emphasizes the impact of predisposing individual vulnerability characteristics, social media uses, and mediating psychological processes on body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. Research-based ideas about social media effects on male body image, intersections with ethnicity, and ameliorative strategies are also discussed.
This article offers objectification theory as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states. Accumulations of such experiences may help account for an array of mental health risks that disproportionately affect women: unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. Objectification theory also illuminates why changes in these mental health risks appear to occur in step with life-course changes in the female body.
This article reviews research pertaining to mass media as a causal risk factor for negative body image and disordered eating in females. The specific purpose is to clarify the impact of mass media by applying seven criteria that extend those of Kraemer et al. (1997) and Stice (2002). Although media effects clearly meet a majority of the criteria, this analysis indicates that, currently, engagement with mass media is probably best considered a variable risk factor that might well be later shown to be a causal risk factor. Recommendations are made for further research, with an emphasis on longitudinal investigations, studies of media literacy as a form of prevention, and clarification of psychosocial processes that moderate and mediate media effects.
The displacive ferroelectric Bi3TiNbO9 [M(r) = 911.7, orthorhombic, A2(1)am, a = 5.4398 (7), b = 5.3941 (7), c = 25.099 (5) angstrom, D(x) = 8.223 g cm-3, Z = 4, Mo K-alpha, lambda = 0.7107 angstrom, mu = 737.6 cm-1, F(000) = 1535.3] is described at room temperature as a commensurate modulation of an Fmmm parent structure. Displacive modes of F2mm, Amam and Abam symmetry are all substantial and reduce the symmetry to A2(1)am. A final value of 0.0295 for R1 = SIGMA-h\\F(obs)(h)\ - \F(calc)(h)\\/SIGMA-h\F(obs)(h)\ was obtained for the 1386 unmerged data used for refinement. The modes of Amam and Abam symmetry were essentially the same as in a previous refinement [Wolfe, Newnham, Smith & Kay (1971). Ferroelectrics, 3, 1-7], but the F2mm displacive mode associated with the ferroelectricity of the compound was substantially different and agreed with features of a recent re-refinement of Bi4Ti3O12[Rae, Thompson, Withers & Willis (1990). Acta Cryst. B46, 474-487].
This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among 292 unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the study's duration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article examines the measurement of short-lived (i.e., state) changes in self-esteem. A new scale is introduced that is sensitive to manipulations designed to temporarily alter self-esteem, and 5 studies are presented that support the scale's validity. The State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) consists of 20 items modified from the widely used Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Psychometric analyses revealed that the SSES has 3 correlated factors: performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. Effects of naturally occurring and laboratory failure and of clinical treatment on SSES scores were examined; it was concluded that the SSES is sensitive to these sorts of manipulations. The scale has many potential uses, which include serving as a valid manipulation check index, measuring clinical change in self-esteem, and untangling the confounded relation between mood and self-esteem.
The current study explored body image self-discrepancy as moderator and social comparison as mediator in the effects on women from thin-ideal images in the media. Female undergraduates (N= 112) with high and low body image self-discrepancy were exposed to advertisements either with thin women (thin ideal) or without thin women (neutral-advertisement control). Exposure to thin-ideal advertisements increased body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and levels of depression and lowered self-esteem. In addition, social comparison processes mediated the relationship between exposure to thin-ideal advertisements and negative self-directed effects. Notably, self-discrepancy moderated this mediation. Women with high levels of body image self-discrepancy were more likely to engage in social comparison from exposure to thin-ideal advertisements, as well as more likely to have those comparison processes induce self-directed negative consequences. This research provides support for an individual difference variable (body image self-discrepancy) that moderates the mediating effect of social comparison from exposure to thin-ideal media.
In this study we investigated the interrelationships between self-objectification, reasons for exercise, body satisfaction, body esteem, and self-esteem. A questionnaire that assessed each of these constructs was completed by 104 female participants between the ages of 16 and 25 who exercised regularly at a fitness center. Self-objectification and appearance-related reasons for exercise were significantly negatively related to body satisfaction, body esteem, and self-esteem, and functional reasons for exercise were positively related to each of these outcome measures. Self-objectification also predicted the reasons women exercise. More important, reasons for exercise were found to mediate the relationships between self-objectification and body satisfaction, body esteem, and self-esteem. It was concluded that objectification theory can be extended usefully into the realm of exercise and that, among women who exercise, motivations for exercise account for the reduced body satisfaction and self-esteem for women high on self-objectification.
Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and StudiVZ are popular means of communicating personality. Recent theoretical and empirical considerations of homepages and Web 2.0 platforms show that impression management is a major motive for actively participating in social networking sites. However, the factors that determine the specific form of self-presentation and the extent of self-disclosure on the Internet have not been analyzed. In an exploratory study, we investigated the relationship between self-reported (offline) personality traits and (online) self-presentation in social networking profiles. A survey among 58 users of the German Web 2.0 site, StudiVZ.net, and a content analysis of the respondents' profiles showed that self-efficacy with regard to impression management is strongly related to the number of virtual friends, the level of profile detail, and the style of the personal photo. The results also indicate a slight influence of extraversion, whereas there was no significant effect for self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)
The Internet offers Web sites that describe, endorse, and support eating disorders. We examined the features of pro-eating disorder Web sites and the messages to which users may be exposed.
We conducted a systematic content analysis of 180 active Web sites, noting site logistics, site accessories, "thinspiration" material (images and prose intended to inspire weight loss), tips and tricks, recovery, themes, and perceived harm.
Practically all (91%) of the Web sites were open to the public, and most (79%) had interactive features. A large majority (84%) offered pro-anorexia content, and 64% provided pro-bulimia content. Few sites focused on eating disorders as a lifestyle choice. Thinspiration material appeared on 85% of the sites, and 83% provided overt suggestions on how to engage in eating-disordered behaviors. Thirty-eight percent of the sites included recovery-oriented information or links. Common themes were success, control, perfection, and solidarity.
Pro-eating disorder Web sites present graphic material to encourage, support, and motivate site users to continue their efforts with anorexia and bulimia. Continued monitoring will offer a valuable foundation to build a better understanding of the effects of these sites on their users.
The relationship between social comparison and body dissatisfaction was examined using meta-analysis. Several demographic and methodological variables were examined as potential moderators. Data from 156 studies (189 effect sizes) showed that social comparison was related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction. The effect for social comparison and body dissatisfaction was stronger for women than men and inversely related to age. This effect was stronger when social comparison was directly measured rather than inferred. No differences emerged for the presence of eating psychopathology, study design, or object of comparison. Results confirm theory and research suggesting that comparing oneself unfavorably to another on the basis of appearance may lead to dissatisfaction with one's own appearance. Moderator variables refine our understanding of the social comparison-body dissatisfaction relationship. These constructs and their relationship should be explored further in future studies.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
The effect of experimental manipulations of the thin beauty ideal, as portrayed in the mass media, on female body image was evaluated using meta-analysis.
Data from 25 studies (43 effect sizes) were used to examine the main effect of mass media images of the slender ideal, as well as the moderating effects of pre-existing body image problems, the age of the participants, the number of stimulus presentations, and the type of research design.
Body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing images of either average size models, plus size models, or inanimate objects. This effect was stronger for between-subjects designs, participants less than 19 years of age, and for participants who are vulnerable to activation of a thinness schema.
Results support the sociocultural perspective that mass media promulgate a slender ideal that elicits body dissatisfaction. Implications for prevention and research on social comparison processes are considered.
Theory and research suggests that cultural norms for appearance present unrealistic standards of beauty which may contribute to women's body dissatisfaction. In Study 1, women described their appearance more negatively than men and made more upward social comparisons about their bodies, but not about other domains. Women also compared more than men with unrealistic targets (e.g., models). In Study 2, we explored the role of cultural norms for appearance in social comparisons with relevant (peer) or irrelevant (model) superior targets. When cultural norms were not salient, participants judged a peer to be more relevant, compared more with the peer, and were more negatively affected by the peer. However, when cultural norms were salient, participants judged a professional model to be equally relevant, compared more with the model and felt worse after exposure to the model. We discuss the powerful role of cultural norms in determining social comparison processes and self-appraisals.
Research suggests that exposure to mass media depicting the thin-ideal body may be linked to body image disturbance in women. This meta-analysis examined experimental and correlational studies testing the links between media exposure to women's body dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal, and eating behaviors and beliefs with a sample of 77 studies that yielded 141 effect sizes. The mean effect sizes were small to moderate (ds = -.28, -.39, and -.30, respectively). Effects for some outcome variables were moderated by publication year and study design. The findings support the notion that exposure to media images depicting the thin-ideal body is related to body image concerns for women.
One hundred and thirty-nine women viewed television commercials that contained either Appearance-related commercials (demonstrating societally-endorsed images of thinness and attractiveness) or Non-Appearance-related advertisements. Pre-post measures of depression, anger, anxiety, and body dissatisfaction were examined. Participants were blocked by a median split on dispositional levels of body image disturbance and sociocultural attitudes regarding appearance. Individuals high on these measures became significantly more depressed following exposure to the Appearance videotape and significantly less depressed following a viewing of the Non-Appearance advertisements. In addition, individuals high on the level of sociocultural awareness/internalization became more angry and participants high on body image disturbance became more dissatisfied with their appearance following exposure to commercials illustrating thinness/attractiveness. Participants who scored below the median on dispositional levels of disturbance either improved or showed no change on dependent measures in both Appearance and Non-Appearance video conditions. The findings are discussed in light of factors that might moderate media-influenced perturbations in body image.
Use of social media, such as Facebook, is pervasive among young women. Body dissatisfaction is also highly prevalent in this demographic. The present study examined the relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns among female university students (N=227), and tested whether appearance comparisons on Facebook in general, or comparisons to specific female target groups (family members, close friends, distant peers [women one may know but do not regularly socialize with], celebrities) mediated this relationship. Results showed a positive relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns, which was mediated by appearance comparisons in general, frequency of comparisons to close friends and distant peers, and by upward comparisons (judging one's own appearance to be worse) to distant peers and celebrities. Thus, young women who spend more time on Facebook may feel more concerned about their body because they compare their appearance to others (especially to peers) on Facebook.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between media exposure and body image concerns in preteenage girls, with a particular focus on the Internet. A sample of 189 girls (aged 10-12 years) completed questionnaire measures of media consumption and body image concerns. Nearly all girls (97.5%) had access to the Internet in their home. Time spent on-line was significantly related to internalization of the thin ideal (as was time reading magazines and watching television), body surveillance, reduced body esteem, and increased dieting. In accord with the sociocultural model, internalization mediated the effect of the Internet on body image concerns. Further, 14% of the girls had a MySpace profile and 43% had a Facebook profile. Time spent on these social networking sites produced stronger correlations with body image concern than did overall Internet exposure. It was concluded that the Internet represents a potent sociocultural force among preteenage girls.
Objective
Social media sites, such as Facebook, merge two factors that influence risk for eating disorders: media and peers. Previous work has identified cross-sectional and temporal associations between Facebook use and disordered eating. This study sought to replicate and extend these findings using an experimental design. Method
In Study 1, 960 women completed self-report surveys regarding Facebook use and disordered eating. In Study 2, 84 women were randomly assigned to use Facebook or to use an alternate internet site for 20 min. ResultsMore frequent Facebook use was associated with greater disordered eating in a cross-sectional survey. Facebook use was associated with the maintenance of weight/shape concerns and state anxiety compared to an alternate internet activity. DiscussionFacebook use may contribute to disordered eating by maintaining risk for eating pathology. As such, targeting Facebook use may be helpful in intervention and prevention programs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014)
"Healthy" living blogs are a recent addition to internet media that offer advice on improving physical and mental health. Often, these sites include information on eating, exercise, and self-image. This study was a content analysis designed to evaluate the information included on these sites.
A sample of 21 blogs was selected from a larger sample for evaluation. These blogs were chosen based on two criteria: they had won an award for healthy blogs and they had a large number of pageviews (pageviews were calculated using a web analytics website). Two raters (kappa reliability = 0.82) rated these blogs on multiple variables related to the blogger's characteristics, the content provided by the blogger, and entries posted on the blog.
Five of the bloggers self-identified as having had an eating disorder; seven mentioned difficulties with either menstruation or fertility; 11 referenced being on a diet; five indicated that they were using some form of dietary restraint; and 11 included some form of written negative/guilt-inducing message about food. Blog entries and About Me sections contained a variety of content indicative of problematic eating and body image information.
These findings suggest the content of healthy living blogs might be problematic for viewers who have eating or body image issues. The content does not approach the inflammatory nature of pro-eating disorder websites, yet information promoted clearly indicates that future research should further evaluate these sites. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014).
Abstract The present study examined the relationship between body image and adolescent girls' activity on the social networking site (SNS) Facebook (FB). Research has shown that elevated Internet "appearance exposure" is positively correlated with increased body image disturbance among adolescent girls, and there is a particularly strong association with FB use. The present study sought to replicate and extend upon these findings by identifying the specific FB features that correlate with body image disturbance in adolescent girls. A total of 103 middle and high school females completed questionnaire measures of total FB use, specific FB feature use, weight dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, thin ideal internalization, appearance comparison, and self-objectification. An appearance exposure score was calculated based on subjects' use of FB photo applications relative to total FB use. Elevated appearance exposure, but not overall FB usage, was significantly correlated with weight dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, thin ideal internalization, and self-objectification. Implications for eating disorder prevention programs and best practices in researching SNSs are discussed.
Exposure to thin media models has a negative effect on women's body image, and the current study extends previous research by examining the relative impact and interrelation of two moderators: (a) individual differences in women's internalization of the thin ideal, and (b) tendency to make social comparisons with media models. Body-focused anxiety of adult professional women (n = 150) was examined after they had been exposed to one of three types of images: thin models, average-size models, or no models (baseline control). Regression analyses confirmed that thin-ideal internalization and tendency toward appearance-related social comparisons act as moderators of media effects, but internalization is a more proximal and specific predictor of women's anxiety than more general social comparison. Negative reactions to thin images are conditional on internalization only, whereas high internalization undermines the positive effects of exposure to average-size models when it combines with strong habitual social comparison. Implications for methodology, future research, and intervention are discussed.
Several studies confirm the operation of contextual contrast effects on judgments of the physical attractiveness of others. The present experiment was conducted to determine whether contrast effects also occur on self-evaluations of physical attractiveness. Fifty-one female college students rated their own attractiveness and body-parts satisfaction following exposure to same-sexed stimulus persons who either were not physically attractive, were physically attractive, or were designated as attractive professional models. The predicted contrast effect was supported for self-perceived attractiveness but not for body satisfaction. Consistent with social comparison theory, subjects gave lower self-ratings in the attractive versus the not attractive and the professionally attractive stimulus context. Correlational analyses also indicated that self-rated attractiveness was related to several personality variables.
Thisstudy aimed to investigate the role of social comparison processes in women's responses to images of thin-idealize d female beauty. A sample of 126 women viewed magazine advertisements containing full-body, body part, or product im- ages. Instructional set was also manipulated with three levels: control, appearance focus, and social comparison. Mood and body dissatisfaction were measured im- mediately before and after advertisement viewing, while state weight anxiety and the amount of appearance comparison engaged in were measured only after the advertisements. It was found that exposure to either body part or full body images led to increased negative mood and body dissatisfaction, while the amount of com- parison processing was affected by both image type and instructional set. Impor- tantly, regression analyses showed that the effects of image type on mood and body dissatisfaction were mediated by the amount of social comparison reported. It was concluded that the processing in which women engage in response to media images is an important contributor to negative effects. Sociocultural theory provides the most strongly supported theoretical account of the high levels of body image disturbance, body dissatisfac- tion, and disordered eating experienced by many women in Western so- cieties (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). This model maintains that current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, and thinness at a level impossible for many women to achieve by healthy means. In fact, the gap between the average woman's body size and the ideal is now larger than ever be-
This research evaluates the contributions of three dimensions of appearance culture (appearance magazine exposure, appearance conversations with friends, and peer appearance criticism) and body mass index (BMI) to internalization of appearance ideals and body image dissatisfaction. Four hundred thirty-three girls and 347 boys in Grades 7 through 10 responded to several measures on a self-report questionnaire. The results of path analyses indicated that Internalization mediated the relationship between Appearance Conversations With Friends and Body Dissatisfaction for both boys and girls. In addition, Internalization, Peer Appearance Criticism, and BMI made direct contributions to Body Dissatisfaction for boys and girls, although the strength of the relationships varied by gender. The proposed mediated relation between Appearance Magazine Exposure and Body Dissatisfaction was confirmed only for the girls. The findings provide needed information about the contributions of the peer appearance culture to internalization and body image disturbances for adolescent boys and girls.
The present study aimed to investigate the role of processing in women's responses to thin idealized images of beauty. A sample of 144 women viewed magazine advertisements containing either thin ideal or product images. Instructional set was manipulated with three levels: control, social comparison, and fantasy instructions. It was found that exposure to thin ideal images led to increased negative mood and body dissatisfaction, while instructional set had its effect on positive mood and body dissatisfaction. For thin ideal images, social comparison instructions led to greater negative mood and body dissatisfaction, while fantasy instructions led to improved positive mood. Importantly, regression analyses indicated that both comparison processing (negatively) and fantasy processing (positively) were associated with women's response to thin ideal images. It was concluded that the nature of the processing women engage in is crucial to their response to thin ideal images.
Objective:
The primary aim of the study was to examine the relationship between Internet exposure and body image concern in adolescent girls, with a particular focus on the social networking site of Facebook.
Method:
A sample of 1,087 girls in the first two years (Years 8 and 9) of high school (aged 13-15 years) completed questionnaire measures of Internet consumption and body image concerns.
Results:
The overwhelming majority of girls (95.9%) had access to the Internet in their home. Time spent on the Internet was significantly related to internalization of the thin ideal, body surveillance, and drive for thinness. Further, 75% of the girls had a Facebook profile, and spent an average of 1.5 hours there daily. Facebook users scored significantly more highly on all body image concern measures than non-users.
Discussion:
It was concluded that the Internet represents a potent socio-cultural medium of relevance to the body image of adolescent girls.
Research has identified a relation between exposure to thin-ideal magazine and television media images and eating disorder pathology. However, few studies have examined the potential influence of Internet media on eating disorder behaviors and attitudes. This study investigated associations among image-focused media exposure, body dissatisfaction, eating pathology and thin-ideal internalization in a sample of 421 female undergraduates. Undergraduate women spent significantly more time viewing online appearance-oriented media, rather than reading image-focused magazines. Appearance-oriented Internet and television use were associated with eating pathology. Moreover, the association between image-focused Internet use and BD was mediated by thin-ideal internalization. These findings are consistent with those of previous research, and highlight the vulnerability individuals high in thin-ideal internalization might have to media exposure. They also suggest that Internet media use is an important topic to attend to in eating disorders prevention and treatment.
Body image issues are at the core of major eating disorders. They are also important phenomena in and of themselves. Kevin Thompson and his colleagues provide an overview of a wide variety of body image issues, ranging from reconstructive surgery to eating disorders. The book will be a valuable resource for even the most established researchers in the field, as it is filled with data, information about assessment tools, and a thorough treatment of virtually all major theoretical perspectives on the development of body image and their implications for treatment and prevention. At the same time, the authors' decision to include numerous experiential anecdotes makes the book easily accessible to those just entering the field who are trying to understand the nature of these phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study aimed to investigate the role of social comparison processing in women's responses to thin idealized images. In particular, it was predicted that comparison with the images on the basis of appearance would lead to more negative outcomes than comparison on the basis of intelligence. A sample of 114 women viewed fashion magazine advertisements featuring thin and attractive models under one of three instructional set conditions: control, appearance comparison, and intelligence comparison instructions. We found that both comparison instructional set conditions led to decreased mood relative to the control condition, but they had no effect on subsequent body dissatisfaction. However, regression analyses indicated that the form of processing in which individuals (irrespective of experimental condition) actually engaged was crucial. In particular, both appearance comparison processing (positively) and intelligence comparison processing (negatively) were associated with increased body dissatisfaction. In addition, poorer recall of both products and their brand names was associated with a greater impact of the media images on mood and body dissatisfaction. We concluded that the dimensions on which social comparison takes place are critical in women's response to media-portrayed thin ideal images, with comparisons on the basis of intelligence or education associated with more positive reactions. More generally, the results offer strong support to appearance social comparison as the mechanism by which idealized media images translate into body dissatisfaction for many women.
Little research has investigated sociocultural factors in the development of body dissatisfaction in preadolescent girls. This study examined the combined influence of media and peer factors. The participants were 100 girls aged nine to 12 years. The girls completed questionnaire measures of media exposure (television and magazines), peer influences (appearance norms, appearance conversations), internalization and body dissatisfaction. Their height and weight were also measured. About half (49 percent) of the girls displayed a desire to be thinner. The influence of sociocultural factors was confirmed in addition to biological determinants, such as body mass index. Their exposure to appearance-focused media was not directly related to their body dissatisfaction, but was indirectly related via their conversations about appearance among peers. The path analysis showed that peer appearance conversations demonstrated a significant relationship with internalization of thin ideals, which was, in turn, significantly related to body dissatisfaction. Like their adolescent counterparts, preadolescent girls are also exposed to appearance ideals presented in the media and manifested among peers. The results provided evidence for the existence of an ‘appearance culture’ consisting of interrelated media and peer influences among girls as young as nine to 12 years of age.
This study experimentally examined the effects of viewing a pro-anorexia website.
Following construction of a prototypic pro-anorexia website, 235 female undergraduates were randomly assigned to view either the pro-anorexia website or one of two comparison websites related to female fashion (using average-sized models) or home décor. Post-website affect, cognitions, and behavioral expectations were examined along with moderator effects.
Study participants exposed to the pro-anorexia website had greater negative affect, lower social self-esteem, and lower appearance self-efficacy post-website than those who viewed a comparison website. Additionally, they perceived themselves as heavier, reported a greater likelihood of exercising and thinking about their weight in the near future, and engaged in more image comparison. Minimal support was found for moderator effects.
Results provide an empirical basis for concern (expressed by clinicians, researchers, the media) that pro-anorexia websites are a troubling new form of thin-ideal exposure that warrants further examination.
Objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206, 1997) contends that experiences of sexual objectification socialize women to engage in self-objectification. The
present study used an experimental design to examine the effects of media images on self-objectification. A total of 90 Australian
undergraduate women aged 18 to 35 were randomly allocated to view magazine advertisements featuring a thin woman, advertisements
featuring a thin woman with at least one attractive man, or advertisements in which no people were featured. Participants
who viewed advertisements featuring a thin-idealized woman reported greater state self-objectification, weight-related appearance
anxiety, negative mood, and body dissatisfaction than participants who viewed product control advertisements. The results
demonstrate that self-objectification can be stimulated in women without explicitly focusing attention on their own bodies.
The primary aim of the study was to examine the relationship between media exposure and body image in adolescent girls, with
a particular focus on the ‘new’ and as yet unstudied medium of the Internet. A sample of 156 Australian female high school
students (mean age = 14.9years) completed questionnaire measures of media consumption and body image. Internet appearance
exposure and magazine reading, but not television exposure, were found to be correlated with greater internalization of thin
ideals, appearance comparison, weight dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness. Regression analyses indicated that the effects
of magazines and Internet exposure were mediated by internalization and appearance comparison. It was concluded that the Internet
represents a powerful sociocultural influence on young women’s lives.
KeywordsInternet exposure-Body image-Internalization of thin ideals-Tripartite influence model-Media exposure-Adolescents
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
Experimental exposure to idealized media portrayals of women is thought to induce social comparisons in female viewers and thereby to be generally detrimental to female viewers' satisfaction with their own appearance. Through meta-analysis, the present paper examines the impact of moderators of this effect, some identified and updated from a prior meta-analysis and some that have hitherto received little attention. Participants' pre-existing appearance concerns and the processing instructions participants were given when exposed to media portrayals were found to significantly moderate effect sizes. With regard to processing instructions, a novel and counter-intuitive pattern was revealed; effect sizes were smallest when participants were instructed to focus on the appearance of women in media portrayals, and largest when participants processed the portrayals on a distracting, non-appearance dimension. These results are interpreted through a framework that suggests that social comparisons are automatic processes, the effects of which can be modified through conscious processing.
Hypotheses involving mediation are common in the behavioral sciences. Mediation exists when a predictor affects a dependent variable indirectly through at least one intervening variable, or mediator. Methods to assess mediation involving multiple simultaneous mediators have received little attention in the methodological literature despite a clear need. We provide an overview of simple and multiple mediation and explore three approaches that can be used to investigate indirect processes, as well as methods for contrasting two or more mediators within a single model. We present an illustrative example, assessing and contrasting potential mediators of the relationship between the helpfulness of socialization agents and job satisfaction. We also provide SAS and SPSS macros, as well as Mplus and LISREL syntax, to facilitate the use of these methods in applications.
A weight-height index of adiposity should indicate the relative fatness of subjects of differing height unless obesity is itself correlated with height. The average body fat among adult women attending a hospital outpatient clinic for obesity was 40.5 percent of body weight. The height of an unselected series of 286 of these outpatients was found to be similar to that of the general population of women of similar age, which indicates that obesity in adult women is not significantly related to height. Body composition was measured by body density, body water and body potassium in a series of 104 female and 24 male subjects aged 14-60 years. In both sexes density, water and potassium gave progressively higher estimates of body fat (kg), and there was a significant difference between the values by different methods. The average of the estimates by these three methods was taken to be the 'true' value for each individual (F kg). Regression of F/H2 on W/H2 (Quetelet's index) gave a correlation coefficient of 0.955 for women and 0.943 for men. The deviation of the body fat estimated from Quetelet's formula from the 'true' value was not much greater than that when density, w