Dataset Information

An international cross-sectional investigation on social media, fitspiration content exposure, and related risks during the COVID-19 self-isolation period.

ABSTRACT: With the global COVID-19 pandemic, governments from many countries in the world implemented various restrictions to prevent the SARS-Cov-2 virus's spread, including social distancing measures, quarantine, in-home lockdown, and the closure of services and public spaces. This led to an in-creased use of social media platforms to make people feel more connected, but also to maintain physical activity while self-isolating. Concerns about physical appearance and the desire to keep or reach a muscular and toned ideal body, might have further reinforced the engagement in fitness-related social media activities, like sharing progresses in training achievements or following more fitness contents on popular profiles. To better understand the underlying relation among these factors, the present study investigates 729 responses to the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) and their association to social media usage and compares the results cross-culturally in five countries (Spain, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Japan, and Hungary). Findings highlight significant differences between males and females, espe-cially in regard to the time spent online (U = 477.5, p = 0.036). Greater levels of appearance anxiety were associated with the exposure to fitness-related contents on social media. These results strongly confirm the previously highlighted association between fitspiration media and body image anxiety predominantly in females. Clinical implications and future considerations in terms of prevention and treatment in a situation of global emergency are also discussed.

SUBMITTER: Cataldo I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8782623 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An international cross-sectional investigation on social media, fitspiration content exposure, and related risks during the COVID-19 self-isolation period.

Cataldo Ilaria I Burkauskas Julius J Dores Artemisa R AR Carvalho Irene P IP Simonato Pierluigi P De Luca Ilaria I Gómez-Martínez Maria Ángeles MÁ Melero Ventola Alejandra Rebeca AR Demetrovics Zsolt Z Szabo Attila A Ábel Krisztina Edina KE Shibata Mami M Kobayashi Kei K Fujiwara Hironobu H Arroyo-Anlló Eva Maria EM Martinotti Giovanni G Barbosa Fernando F Griskova-Bulanova Inga I Pranckeviciene Aiste A Bowden-Jones Henrietta H Esposito Gianluca G Corazza Ornella O

Journal of psychiatric research 20220122

With the global COVID-19 pandemic, governments from many countries in the world implemented various restrictions to prevent the SARS-Cov-2 virus's spread, including social distancing measures, quarantine, in-home lockdown, and the closure of services and public spaces. This led to an in-creased use of social media platforms to make people feel more connected, but also to maintain physical activity while self-isolating. Concerns about physical appearance and the desire to keep or reach a muscular ...[more]

PMID: 35093805

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundSocial media use has become ubiquitous in the lives of many people, especially young adults. A popular recent trend emerging on social media is that of posting and following 'Fitspirational' content - material that purports to motivate and showcase healthy lifestyle habits, particularly relating to exercise and diet. There is very limited existing literature on how engaging with this type of content influences people's psychological and physical heath. Initial studies have focused on concerns over potential negative effects on psychological wellbeing including body image, self-esteem and eating disorders.ObjectiveWe aimed to address a gap in the literature for exploratory research on this topic from the perspective of users. We used a qualitative approach to explore how people experience viewing Fitspiration on social media including why and how they engage with this material and how they perceive that it affects their thoughts, emotions, behaviour and health.MethodsWe recruited 20 young adults (14 females, 6 males, aged 18-25) who self-declared themselves to be Fitspiration followers to participate in either focus groups or individual interviews. We asked detailed, open-ended questions about their motivations for following Fitspiration, experiences of viewing this content and its perceived impact. We used inductive thematic analysis to derive themes that represented common and salient features of the data set.ResultsFour main themes were developed: 1) A tool with the potential to support healthy living, 2) Unrealistic, untrustworthy content, 3) Negative effects on emotional wellbeing, and 4) Vulnerability and protective factors. Following Fitspirational posts on social media can provide young people with knowledge and motivation that may support healthy lifestyle behaviours. However, a range of harms also appeared to arise from Fitspiration viewing ranging from minor annoyances and frustrations to more meaningful negative effects on psychological & physical health. These negative effects seemed to persist despite individuals acknowledging that the material can be unrealistic, and believing that they are personally equipped to minimise harms to themselves.ConclusionsThis study suggests that Fitspiration on social media can be attractive and compelling for young people but appears to bring about negative as well as positive effects. Future research should aim to confirm the scale and intensity of positive and negative effects and investigate ways of harnessing desirable outcomes and minimising undesirable outcomes.

Project description:PurposeFitspiration (also known as "fitspo") aims to inspire individuals to exercise and have healthy habits, but emerging research indicates that exposure to it can have a negative impact on body image. This study aims to analyze the relationship between individuals' exposure to fitspiration content and body image measures or associated variables (e.g., appearance comparison).Materials and methodsA comprehensive search of peer-reviewed papers published in English between 2000 and August 2022 was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO and Google Scholar, based on the PICOS model. To be included, studies had to analyze the relationship between exposure to fitspiration content (I) and body image or associated variables (O) in adolescents and adults (P). Study methodological quality was assessed using an adaptation of the EPHPP Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Outcome data were synthesized narratively and by vote counting.ResultsTwenty articles met the eligibility criteria and were included. Nineteen studies analyzed the relationship between fitspiration and body image, twelve analyzed the association between exposure to fitspiration and physical appearance comparison tendencies, and nine analyzed the association between fitspiration content and mood. One study analyzed the association between frequency of viewing fitspiration content and motives for exercise. Results showed that exposure to "fitspiration" increased individuals' body dissatisfaction, physical appearance comparisons, and negative mood, especially in younger populations.ConclusionsFitspiration has been seen as a new and prolific digital trend, considered beneficial for health. However, our results showed that fitspo is associated with negative body image, especially in younger populations that are more exposed to this content. Most of the studies were conducted in females and young age participants, which limits the extrapolation of results by gender and age. Future studies are needed to confirm and extend these findings.Level of evidenceLevel 1, Systematic Review.

Project description:IntroductionPrior research on the effects of social media promotion of tobacco products has predominantly relied on survey-based self-report measures of marketing exposure, which potentially introduce endogeneity, recall, and selection biases. New approaches can enhance measurement and help better understand the effects of exposure to tobacco-related messages in a dynamic social media marketing environment. We used geolocation-specific tweet rate as an exogenous indicator of exposure to smokeless tobacco (ST)-related content and employed this measure to examine the influence of social media marketing on ST sales.Aims and methodsAutoregressive error models were used to analyze the association between the ST-relevant tweet rate (aggregated by 4-week period from February 12, 2017 to June 26, 2021 and scaled by population density) and logarithmic ST unit sales across time by product type (newer, snus, conventional) in the United States, accounting for autocorrelated errors. Interrupted time series approach was used to control for policy change effects.ResultsST product category-related tweet rates were associated with ST unit sales of newer and conventional products, controlling for price, relevant policy events, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. On average, 100-unit increase in the number of newer ST-related tweets was associated with 14% increase in unit sales (RR = 1.14; p = .01); 100-unit increase in conventional ST tweets was associated with ~1% increase in unit sales (p = .04). Average price was negatively associated with the unit sales.ConclusionsStudy findings reveal that ST social media tweet rate was related to increased ST consumption and illustrate the utility of exogenous measures in conceptualizing and assessing effects in the complex media environment.ImplicationsTobacco control initiatives should include efforts to monitor the role of social media in promoting tobacco use. Surveillance of social media platforms is critical to monitor emerging tobacco product-related marketing strategies and promotional content reach. Exogenous measures of potential exposure to social media messages can supplement survey data to study media effects on tobacco consumption.

Project description:BackgroundFitspiration is a social media phenomenon purported to inspire viewers to lead healthier lifestyles but can result in negative psychological outcomes such as body dissatisfaction. This study aimed to develop a tool to audit Instagram fitspiration accounts and screen for content that could have potentially negative psychological effects.MethodsThis study developed and implemented an audit tool to (1) identify credible fitspiration accounts (i.e., accounts that do not portray potentially harmful or unhealthy content) and (2) describe the content of identified accounts. The most recent 15 posts of 100 leading Instagram fitspiration accounts were audited. Accounts were deemed non-credible and were excluded if they contained fewer than four fitness-related posts or portrayed nudity or inappropriate clothing, sexualisation or objectification, extreme body types, "thinspiration", or negative messages.ResultsMany accounts contained fewer than four fitness-related posts (n = 41), sexualisation or objectification (n = 26), nudity or inappropriate clothing (n = 22), and/or extreme body types (n = 15). Three accounts failed on all four criteria, while 13, 10 and 33 failed on three, two, or one criterion, respectively. Therefore, only 41% of accounts were considered credible. Inter-rater reliability (percentage agreement and Brennan and Prediger's coefficient κq) was high (Stage 1: 92% agreement [95% CI 87, 97], κq 0.84 [95% CI 0.73, 0.95]; Stage 2: 93% agreement [95% CI 83, 100], κq 0.85 [95% CI 0.67, 1.00]). Account holders of credible fitspiration accounts were predominantly female (59%), aged 25-34 (54%), Caucasian (62%), and from the United States (79%). Half held a qualification related to physical activity or physical health (e.g., personal trainer, physiotherapy; 54%). Most included accounts included an exercise video (93%) and example workout (76%).ConclusionWhile many popular Instagram fitspiration accounts offered credible content such as example workouts, many accounts contained sexualisation, objectification or promotion of unhealthy or unrealistic body shapes. The audit tool could be used by Instagram users to ensure the accounts they follow do not portray potentially harmful or unhealthy content. Future research could use the audit tool to identify credible fitspiration accounts and examine whether exposure to these accounts positively influences physical activity.

Project description:BackgroundSocial media is often used for health communication and can facilitate fast information exchange. Despite its increasing use, little is known about child health information sharing and engagement over social media.ObjectiveThe primary objectives of this study are to systematically describe the content of social media posts about child pain and sleep and identify the level of research evidence in these posts. The secondary objective is to examine user engagement with information shared over social media.MethodsTwitter, Instagram, and Facebook were searched by members of the research team over a 2-week period using a comprehensive search strategy. Codes were used to categorize the content of posts to identify the frequency of content categories shared over social media platforms. Posts were evaluated by content experts to determine the frequency of posts consistent with existing research evidence. User engagement was analyzed using Netlytic, a social network analysis program, to examine visual networks illustrating the level of user engagement.ResultsFrom the 2-week period, nearly 1500 pain-related and 3800 sleep-related posts were identified and analyzed. Twitter was used most often to share knowledge about child pain (639/1133, 56.40% of posts), and personal experiences for child sleep (2255/3008, 75.00% of posts). For both topics, Instagram posts shared personal experiences (53/68, 78% pain; 413/478, 86.4% sleep), Facebook group posts shared personal experiences (30/49, 61% pain; 230/345, 66.7% sleep) and Facebook pages shared knowledge (68/198, 34.3% pain; 452/1026, 44.05% sleep). Across platforms, research evidence was shared in 21.96% (318/1448) of pain- and 9.16% (445/4857) of sleep-related posts; 5.38% (61/1133) of all pain posts and 2.82% (85/3008) of all sleep posts shared information inconsistent with the evidence, while the rest were absent of evidence. User interactions were indirect, with mostly one-way, rather than reciprocal conversations.ConclusionsSocial media is commonly used to discuss child health, yet the majority of posts do not contain research evidence, and user engagement is primarily one-way. These findings represent an opportunity to expand engagement through open conversations with credible sources. Research and health care communities can benefit from incorporating specific information about evidence within social media posts to improve communication with the public and empower users to distinguish evidence-based content better. Together, these findings have identified potential gaps in social media communication that may be informative targets to guide future strategies for improving the translation of child health evidence over social media.

Dataset Information

An international cross-sectional investigation on social media, fitspiration content exposure, and related risks during the COVID-19 self-isolation period.

Publications

An international cross-sectional investigation on social media, fitspiration content exposure, and related risks during the COVID-19 self-isolation period.

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