Elsevier

Body Image

Volume 35, December 2020, Pages 96-107
Body Image

The differential impact of viewing fitspiration and thinspiration images on men’s body image concerns: An experimental ecological momentary assessment study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.08.008Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fit- and thinspiration images led to lower mood and greater urges to increase muscularity.

  • Only fitspiration images increased urges to reduce body fat.

  • Thinspiration images reduced body dissatisfaction.

  • Trait muscularity dissatisfaction and appearance comparison moderated the effects of fitspiration images.

  • Trait body fat dissatisfaction and appearance comparison moderated the effects of thinspiration images.

  • Implementing social media literacy programmes for fitspiration images is essential.

Abstract

To date, little is known about the impact of fitspiration and thinspiration exposure on men, as previous studies on these social media trends were primarily conducted on women. Male participants (n = 223) completed baseline measures of trait body image, then used a smartphone application to complete up to six state-based assessments daily for seven days. In each assessment, participants were randomly assigned to one of three image conditions (fitspiration, thinspiration, or neutral). Before and after viewing each image, they reported state body fat dissatisfaction, muscularity dissatisfaction, negative mood, and urge to engage in behaviours to reduce body fat and increase muscularity. Multi-level analyses revealed that compared to viewing neutral images, viewing fitspiration images increased men’s body dissatisfaction, whereas viewing thinspiration images decreased body dissatisfaction. Viewing either fit- or thinspiration images also led to lower mood and greater urges to increase muscularity, whereas only fitspiration images increased urges to reduce body fat. Men with greater baseline muscularity dissatisfaction and higher appearance comparison were most vulnerable to muscularity dissatisfaction after viewing fitspiration images. Findings suggest the importance of limiting exposure to fitspiration imagery and implementing social media literacy programmes for men and well as women.

Introduction

Media exposure is a key sociocultural factor contributing to body image concerns, and recent years have seen growing interest in the effects of social media on body image (e.g. Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). Social media trends such as fitspiration—content aimed at promoting exercise and healthy lifestyles (e.g. Carrotte, Prichard, & Lim, 2017; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018) —and thinspiration—content aimed at promoting weight loss and often glorifying disordered eating behaviours (e.g. Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015)—have been found to be associated with greater body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and disordered eating behaviours (e.g. Griffiths & Stefanovski, 2019; Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). These outcomes arise because both types of images are unattainable for most men and therefore present unreasonable goals whose pursuit would require unhealthy or excessive behaviours. A large proportion of the studies assessing the impact of fitspiration and thinspiration images, however, were conducted on women, and the generalisability of these findings to men remain unclear. This is particularly so, given the gender differences in the perception of the ‘ideal body’ (e.g. Stanford & McCabe, 2002), which suggests that compared to women, men may respond differently to fitspiration and thinspiration content. To date, no study has investigated the causal effects of exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration imagery on men’s body image. There is also limited research that has delineated the two dimensions of men’s body dissatisfaction – body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction (e.g. Griffiths, Murray, & Touyz, 2013). To rectify these gaps in the literature, here we utilise ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate the effects of viewing fitspiration and thinspiration images on men’s body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and urge to engage in behaviours to reduce body fat and increase muscularity.

Whilst women report more body dissatisfaction than men, some level of body dissatisfaction is nonetheless reported by 60.4 % of men living in the general population of Australia, and moderate-to-high levels of body dissatisfaction are reported by 15.2 % of men (Griffiths et al., 2016). In Australia, there is evidence to suggest these rates may be increasing over time (Mitchison, Hay, Slewa-Younan, & Mond, 2014). Historically, body image studies mostly recruited female participants and focused on the drive for thinness (Bergeron & Tylka, 2007). Men, however, do not necessarily think about their bodies in the same way as women do. Over the past three decades, researchers have found gender differences in how the ‘ideal body’ is perceived. Men tend to place a greater emphasis on muscularity whereas women focus more on being thin (Grogan, 2016). This suggests that men’s body dissatisfaction is not solely dependent on thinness (or fatness), and it would be inaccurate to generalise findings from prior body image research that recruited female participants to the male population.

As such, researchers are beginning to conceptualise men’s body dissatisfaction in terms of two distinct but related dimensions – body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction, which correspond to the drive for thinness and the drive for muscularity, respectively (Griffiths et al., 2013). The pursuit of thinness and muscularity may motivate different eating and exercise behaviours, both of which can be problematic. The desire to lose body fat may potentiate behaviours such as severe food restriction, taking diet pills (e.g., ephedrine), and engaging in excessive aerobic exercise (Grogan, 2016). The desire to increase muscularity may also potentiate behaviours like consuming protein-rich foods, extreme bodybuilding and weight training, and using appearance-enhancing drugs (e.g., anabolic steroids; Griffiths et al., 2013; Grogan, 2016). Given the differential associations of the two dimensions of men’s body dissatisfaction with body change behaviours, it is pertinent to consider both body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction in the context of key theoretical models of body image.

The tripartite influence model is a key theoretical model of body image (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999), and can be used to generate predictions about men’s body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. The tripartite influence model (Thompson et al., 1999) posits that three sources of influence contribute to the development of body image concerns and eating dysfunction – peers, parents, and media. This model proposes two mediation pathways that explain the relationship between the sources of influence and eating disturbances: internalisation of societal ideals and appearance comparison. Multiple studies have provided evidence to support the validity of components in the tripartite influence model in men across various age groups and cultures (e.g. Papp, Urban, Czegledi, Babusa, & Tury, 2013; Smolak, Murnen, & Thompson, 2005).

Specific to media influence, an extensive body of literature has examined effects of mass media portrayals of the muscular ideal on men’s body image (e.g. Barlett, Vowels, & Saucier, 2008; Blond, 2008; Hausenblas et al., 2013). In a meta-analysis consisting of 10 experimental studies, Barlett et al. (2008) found that men who viewed muscular media stimuli reported higher body dissatisfaction, and increased levels of negative psychological (e.g., depression, eating disorders) and behavioural (e.g., strategies to lose weight and increase muscularity) outcomes. This finding is consistent with two other meta-analyses, which reported small to moderate negative effects of media portrayals of the ideal male physique on body image (Blond, 2008) and disordered eating among men (Hausenblas et al., 2013). Taken together, mass media depictions of the muscular ideal not only lead to stronger body dissatisfaction but also motivate appearance-enhancing behaviours.

Although the tripartite influence model provides a framework to explain the development of body image concerns and disordered eating behaviours, it does not consider body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction as separate constructs. To address this limitation, Tylka (2011) expanded the tripartite influence model and incorporated dual body image pathways to men’s body change behaviours. In this revised framework, body fat dissatisfaction predicts disordered eating behaviours to reduce body fat, whereas muscularity dissatisfaction predicts muscularity enhancement behaviours. Some studies to date have provided evidence for the dual body image pathways in young men (e.g. Girard, Chabrol, & Rodgers, 2018; Tylka, 2011; Tylka & Andorka, 2012). These findings reinforce the importance of delineating the two dimensions of body dissatisfaction to better understand motivations to engage in behaviours to alter body fat and muscularity among men.

Although the majority of past research has demonstrated the negative effects of mass media on male body image (e.g. Barlett et al., 2008), there is a need to develop a stronger understanding about the impact of social media specifically, given its high usage and unique characteristics that differentiates it from mass media. The shift from mass media to social media is evident in the proliferation of worldwide social media usage from 0.97 billion users in 2010 to 2.65 billion users in 2018 (Clement, 2019). This upward trend is projected to continue, reaching a total of 3.09 billion globally in 2021 (Clement, 2019).

The negative effects of social media usage on body image have been widely documented. A systematic review on the impact of social media use on body image revealed positive correlations between the duration of social media use and body dissatisfaction, body surveillance, and disordered eating (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). These body image concerns and behaviours increased between four weeks and 18 months later (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016), indicating the possible longitudinal effects of social media usage. Although most studies utilised female samples to examine the relationship between social media usage and body image (e.g. Fardouly, Diedrichs, Vartanian, & Halliwell, 2015), a few studies recruited male participants (e.g. Griffiths, Murray, Krug, & McLean, 2018).

In terms of gender differences, findings have been mixed, with some studies (e.g. Thompson & Lougheed, 2012) revealing social media usage affected women’s body dissatisfaction and eating pathology more than men’s, whereas other studies were not able to find gender differences in the association between social media use and body dissatisfaction (Stronge et al., 2015) or weight concerns (Kim & Chock, 2015). A key limitation across these studies is that the researchers only measured the general indices of social media usage, such as duration and frequency of social media use. Little is known about the association between the type of social media content individuals view (e.g., fitspiration, thinspiration) and body image, especially in men. Given that men and females have different perceptions of the 'ideal body' (Stanford & McCabe, 2002) and may, therefore, respond differently to fitspiration and thinspiration imagery, this is an area that warrants further investigation.

A recent trend that has emerged on social media is fitspiration (also termed ‘fitspo’), which is a term derived from the amalgamation of the two words, ‘fitness’ and ‘inspiration’ (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Multiple content analyses have found that fitspiration content comprises images and texts related to exercise and diet that aim to promote healthy and fit lifestyles (e.g. Carrotte et al., 2017; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018). Specific to fitspiration images portraying men, a large emphasis is placed on displaying visible biceps, pectoral muscles, and abdominal muscles (Carrotte et al., 2017; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018). Men portrayed in these images conform to a particular body type characterised by a medium build with high levels of muscularity, which is consistent with today’s societal standard of the ideal male physique (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2018). Fitspiration images are often accompanied by motivational or inspirational quotes (Carrotte et al., 2017), such as ‘Winners train, losers complain’ and ‘You won’t always love the workout, but you’ll always love the results’. Fitspiration content on social media is often tagged with hashtags like ‘#fitspo’, which enables users to search for and view other posts related to fitspiration easily (Carrotte et al., 2017).

Although fitspiration content may have initially been intended to inspire and motivate viewers to lead a healthy lifestyle, its unintended negative effects on body image and mood have been documented, albeit mostly among women. In an experiment conducted by Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015), women were randomly assigned to view either fitspiration or travel (control) images found on Instagram. Compared to participants who viewed travel images, those exposed to fitspiration imagery reported greater body dissatisfaction and negative mood, and lower appearance self-esteem. Participants who viewed fitspiration images also disclosed feeling more motivated to be fit and maintain a healthy diet. In a separate study, Prichard, Mclachlan, Lavis, and Tiggemann (2018) examined the causal effects of viewing various forms of fitspiration imagery (i.e., the depiction of bodies performing an exercise or simply posing; presence or absence of appearance-focused text) on women's body image. Findings revealed that regardless of focus or presence of text, participants reported lower body satisfaction and increased negative mood after exposure to fitspiration images. Conversely, Slater, Varsani, and Diedrichs (2017) found that compared to neutral control images, viewing fitspiration images did not lead to poorer body image or negative mood in women. Only one study studied similar topics among men, with findings indicating that viewing fitspiration content was positively correlated with body dissatisfaction and appearance-based exercise motivation (Fatt, Fardouly, & Rapee, 2019).

Another social media trend is thinspiration (also termed ‘thinspo’), which is derived from the words ‘thin’ and ‘inspiration’. More of than not, thinspiration content is aimed at promoting weight loss and glorifying disordered eating (Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015). Previous content analyses have revealed that thinspiration content largely depicts images of extremely thin and objectified bodies posing in sexually suggestive ways, and quotes like ‘Waking up thinner is worth going to bed hungry’ and ‘The best way to maintain the loss is to lose even more’ (e.g. Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015; Wick & Harriger, 2018). Although the majority of thinspiration content features images of women (Talbot, Gavin, Van Steen, & Morey, 2017), thinspiration is still relevant to men. For example, Alberga, Withnell, and von Ranson (2018) found that about 8.6 % of thinspiration images contained male bodies. Men also participate in pro-eating disorder websites, where they can access thinspiration content (Wooldridge, Mok, & Chiu, 2014). On social media, thinspiration content targeted at men can be found by searching the hashtag ‘#malethinspo’. Related images from this search often illustrate skinny, topless men dressed in tight jeans to accentuate their bone protrusions and emaciation.

Multiple studies have documented the negative psychological impact of thin-ideal media portrayals, including increased body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and disordered eating behaviours and cognitions (e.g. Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008; Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002). However, a significant proportion of these studies focused on mass media and recruited only female participants (e.g. Harper & Tiggemann, 2008; Hawkins, Richards, Granley, & Stein, 2004). Research on the impact of thinspiration social media content on body image remains in its infancy, with published papers mostly being content analyses (e.g. Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015; Talbot et al., 2017). Only one experimental study has been conducted, with findings showing that women experienced elevated body dissatisfaction after viewing thinspiration images relative to viewing fitspiration images (Robinson et al., 2017). It is unclear if findings based on mass media portrayals of the thin-ideal are generalisable to thinspiration content on social media. Nevertheless, given that men tend to place greater emphasis on a mesomorphic (muscular and lean) physique than an ectomorphic (thin) build in the perception of the ‘ideal body’ (Griffiths et al., 2013; Ridgeway & Tylka, 2005), they may consider thinspiration content to be a less relevant benchmark for comparison. Currently, there is minimal evidence to demonstrate how thinspiration content on social media affects the way men perceive their bodies, as well as their mood and motivation to engage in body change behaviours.

A few studies have compared the relationship between viewing fitspiration and thinspiration content, body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and disordered eating behaviours among men (e.g. Griffiths & Stefanovski, 2019). One study found that exposure to thinspiration imagery was associated with greater eating disorders symptom severity compared to exposure to fitspiration imagery (Griffiths, Castle et al., 2018). Another study that utilised EMA reported small negative effects for the associations between exposure to thinspiration and fitspiration content and body satisfaction (ds ranged from 0.03 to 0.07), with only thinspiration exposure found to be related to stronger negative mood (Griffiths & Stefanovski, 2019). Of note, both studies were correlational and only a minority of the samples comprised men. Hence, these results may be skewed as the majority of the data were contributed by female participants. The lack of male participants in the samples also rendered the assessment of gender differences implausible. A separate experiment by Galioto and Crowther (2013) examined the causal effects of viewing thin and muscular images on men’s body image and found that exposure to both types of images led to an increase in body dissatisfaction. However, these images were derived from advertisements on websites, which may be different from those found on social media platforms that predominantly feature images posted by peers. Given the limitations of previous studies, more research is needed to compare the effects of viewing fitspiration and thinspiration social media images on male body image.

The psychological mechanism by which thinspiration and fitspiration affect individuals is likely through social comparison, which noted above is a key component of the tripartite influence model (Thompson et al., 1999). Because people are more likely to engage in upward (comparing oneself to someone more attractive) versus downward (comparison to a less attractive target person) social comparisons (Festinger, 1954), even those who are objectively fit and thin can subjectively experience being inadequate compared to others. Appearance comparisons through social media are especially common, and upward comparisons are an important sociocultural factor adversely affecting body image (e.g. Fardouly, Pinkus, & Vartanian, 2017). While most studies on fitspiration and thinspiration have been conducted among women, recent work indicates that male fitspiration posts increase appearance comparison in men, which, in turn, reduces body satisfaction (e.g. Fatt, et al., 2019).

Past research has demonstrated that exposure to mass media portrayals of the muscular ideal leads to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and disordered eating behaviours (e.g. Barlett et al., 2008; Blond, 2008; Hausenblas et al., 2013). However, the effects of social media trends like fitspiration and thinspiration on men’s body image remain inconclusive. Most experimental studies that examined the effects of exposure to fitspiration and/or thinspiration imagery on body image recruited female participants (e.g. Robinson et al., 2017; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Given the gender differences in the perception of the ‘ideal body’ (e.g. Stanford & McCabe, 2002), and the fact that body dissatisfaction in women is often normative (e.g. Runfola et al., 2013), generalisability of these findings to men is highly questionable.

Furthermore, the above mentioned experimental studies were limited in that they assessed participants in a constrained laboratory environment. EMA provides researchers access to the study of behaviour in its natural context and therefore extends previous findings through improved ecological validity and extended data collection compared to traditional self-report and experimental studies (Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008). Specifically, EMA can identify fluctuations in longitudinal in-the-moment behaviours (such as viewing fitspiration images) and if they affect state characteristics (such as body dissatisfaction and/or mood) (Smyth & Stone, 2003). Finally, the realm of male body image research, there is also insufficient research that analysed body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction as separate constructs.

To address these research gaps, our study utilised EMA with an experimental design embedded within, to investigate the effects of exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration imagery on men’s body image. The primary aim of our study was to investigate the causal effects of viewing fitspiration and thinspiration images on state body fat dissatisfaction, muscularity dissatisfaction, negative mood, and urge to engage in behaviours to reduce body fat and enhance muscularity among men (whilst maintaining ecological validity). Our secondary aim was to examine the moderating effects of trait body dissatisfaction and appearance comparison on the relationship between exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration imagery, and state body dissatisfaction. These moderating factors were chosen because they are the key variables of the Tripartite Influence Model for eating pathology for men (e.g. Papp, et al., 2013). Prior research has suggested that trait body dissatisfaction and appearance comparisons may influence one’s momentary experiences of body dissatisfaction (e.g. Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Richardson, Lewis, Smyth, & Krug, 2018). Although no research has investigated how these trait variables may moderate the effects of exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration images on body dissatisfaction, men who are more dissatisfied with their bodies and engage more frequently in appearance comparison may experience more heightened body dissatisfaction. Given that men generally perceive the 'ideal body' to be muscular rather than thin (e.g. Griffiths et al., 2013), fitspiration images may be more relevant targets for comparison. Thus, the moderating effects of trait body dissatisfaction and appearance comparisons may be more pronounced when men view these images.

Based on this literature, we posit the following hypotheses. Compared to viewing neutral images, viewing fitspiration images but not thinspiration images will increase state body fat dissatisfaction, muscularity dissatisfaction, negative mood, and urge to engage in behaviours to reduce body fat and increase muscularity among men (H1). Men with higher trait body fat dissatisfaction will report higher state body fat dissatisfaction after viewing fitspiration images compared with neutral images (H2). Men with higher trait muscularity dissatisfaction would report higher state muscularity dissatisfaction after viewing fitspiration images compared with neutral images (H3). Finally, men with higher trait appearance comparison will report higher state body fat dissatisfaction and muscularity dissatisfaction after viewing fitspiration images compared with neutral images (H4).

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 347 male participants signed up for our study and downloaded the InstantSurvey app (Richardson, 2015) to assist with data collection. However, 124 participants were excluded from our data analysis either because they did not start the study, did not complete the baseline data, or completed less than 50 % of the EMA assessments. We decided to retain participants with at least 50 % compliance to ensure sufficient statistical power and reduce biased results due to missing data that were

Differences in completers versus non-completers

Participants who completed all components of the current study (“retained participants”; n = 223) and those who met various exclusion criteria differed significantly in terms of trait muscularity dissatisfaction (t = 2.03, p = .043, Cohen’s d = .30), history of viewing thinspiration (χ2(1) = 17.82, p < .001, phi = .24) and fitspiration content (χ2(1) = 14.49, p < .001, phi = .22), employment status (χ2(5) = 55.41, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .42), educational attainment (χ2(4) = 29.43, p < .001,

Discussion

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the fitspiration and thinspiration exposure on men’s body image, using an experimental paradigm and EMA. Our findings revealed the differential impact of exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration images, particularly on body dissatisfaction. In support of H1, we found that viewing fitspiration compared to neutral images increased state body fat dissatisfaction, muscularity dissatisfaction, negative mood, and the urge to reduce body fat and

Funding

This research did not receive and specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Zhi Wei Yee: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Scott Griffiths: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz: Software, Data curation, Visualization, Validation, Writing - review & editing. Khandis Blake: Writing - review & editing. Ben Richardson: Software, Data curation. Isabel Krug: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

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