An Evaluation of Fitspiration Viewing and Exercise Behavior in College Students
Keywords:
Fitspiration, physical activity, college health, social mediaAbstract
Social media is widely used by college students, and is used for retrieving health information. “Fitspiration” (fitness and inspiration) pages are common on many popular social networking sites. Fitspiration pages have been previously associated with short term motivation for exercise and decreased body satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which viewing fitspiration pages may influence exercise behaviors for college students. Additionally, this study sought to explore if particular types of fitspiration pages can encourage increased exercise. This study utilized a cross-sectional survey approach and was distributed to college students at a large Midwestern university. About half of the students viewed fitspiration pages, and students who viewed fitness pages reported exercising more than those who did not. Students who viewed fitspiration pages also reported exercising for muscle-gain, enjoyment, fitness, reduced stress, and feeling better. CrossFit pages and professional fitness organization pages were associated with increased exercise. Students did not report feeling motivated by fitspiration. Additional research is needed to explore the relationships between fitspiration page viewing and fitness goals, and identify additional reasoning for viewing these pages.
References
Boepple, L., & Thompson, J.K. (2016). A content analytic comparison of fitspiration and thinspiration websites. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 49(1), 98-101. doi: 10.1002/eat.22403.
Carrotte, E. R., Prichard, I., & Lim, M. S. C. (2017). “Fitspiration” on social media: A content analysis of gendered images. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(3), e95. doi:10.2196/jmir.6368
Deighton-Smith, N., & Bell, B. T. (2017). Objectifying fitness: A content and thematic analysis of #fitspiration images on social media. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 6(1), 1-41. doi:10.1037/ppm0000143
Head, A.J., Wihbey, J., Metaxas, P.T., MacMillan, M., & Cohen, D. (2018). How students engage with news: Five takeaways for educators, journalists, and librarians [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.projectinfolit.org/uploads/2/7/5/4/27541717/newsreport.pdf
Holland, G., & Tiggemann, M. (2017). “Strong beats skinny every time”: Disordered eating and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on Instagram. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50(1), 76-79. doi: 10.1002/eat.22559
Pilgrim, K., & Bohnet-Joschko, S. (2019). Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and exercise: Mixed methods research. BMC Public Health, doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7387-8.
Prichard, I., Mclachlan, A. C., Lavis, T., & Tiggemann, M. (2017). The impact of different forms of #fitspiration Imagery on body image, mood, and self-objectification among young women. Sex Roles, 78(11-12), 789–798. doi: 10.1007/s11199-017-0830-3
Roberts, J., Yaya, L., & Manolis, C. (2014). The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(4), 254-265. doi:10.1556/JBA.3.2014.015
Simpson, C. C., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2016). Skinny is not enough: A content analysis of Fitspiration on Pinterest. Health Communication, 32(5), 560–567. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1140273
Song, H., Omori, K., Kim, J., Tenzek, K. E., Hawkins, J. M., Lin, W. Y., ... & Jung, J. Y. (2016). Trusting social media as a source of health information: Online surveys comparing the United States, Korea, and Hong Kong. Journal of medical Internet research, 18(3). doi:10.2196/jmir.4193
Tiggemann, M., & Miller, J. (2010). The internet and adolescent girls’ weight satisfaction and drive for thinness. Sex Roles, 63(1-2), 79-90. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9789-z
Tiggemann, M., & Zaccardo, M. (2015). “Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: The effect of fitspiration imagery on women's body image. Body Image, 15, 61-67. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.06.003
Wang, Q., Chen, W., & Liang, Y. (2011). The effects of social media on college students. MBA Student Scholarship. Retrieved from: https://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/mba_student/5/
Wang, Y., Niiya, M., Mark, G., Reich, S. M., & Warschauer, M. (2015). Coming of age (digitally): An ecological view of social media use among college students. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing. 571-582. doi:10.1145/2675133.2675271
Zhang, J., Brackbill, D., Yang, S., & Centola, D. (2015). Efficacy and causal mechanism of an online social media intervention to increase physical activity: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Preventive Medicine Reports, 2, 651-657. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.08.005
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
