Elsevier

Body Image

Volume 35, December 2020, Pages 279-287
Body Image

The effects of fitspiration images on body attributes, mood and eating behaviors: An experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment study in females

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.011Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fitspiration images led to higher felt pressures to attain this physique.

  • This effect was most pronounced for women experiencing pressure from the media.

  • Women believed that the fitspiration images were not attainable.

  • Fitspiration images also decreased satisfaction with current fitness.

  • There were no effects of fitspiration images on mood and disordered eating.

Abstract

Through an experimental Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) design, we assessed the effects of fitspiration images (relative to neutral) on body image, mood and disordered eating and whether trait body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization and pressures from the media, family and peers moderated these effects. After completing trait-based measures, 85 women were prompted via a mobile application 6 times daily for 7 days to view an image (fitspiration or neutral) and report on state levels of perceived pressures to attain an idealized physique, satisfaction with various body attributes, mood and eating behavior. When participants were exposed to fitspiration images, their perceived pressure to attain an idealized physique was significantly higher than after exposure to the control images. This effect was most pronounced for women experiencing pressure from the media. Furthermore, fitspiration images lowered the extent to which women felt that idealized physiques were attainable, and decreased satisfaction with current fitness. There were no significant effects on mood and disordered eating. Exposure to fitspiration content predicted only a few adverse outcomes in terms of negative body attributes and perceived pressures to attain a similar physique, suggesting that its content is not as detrimental as initially believed, but further research is needed.

Introduction

Fitspiration, generally shortened to ‘fitspo’, is a term used to describe media images designed to inspire fitness. These images can include photographs, videos, self-portraits (‘selfies’) and before and after images of healthy/fit attractive men and women, often dressed in exercise gear or engaging in physical activity (Boepple, Ata, Rum, & Thompson, 2016). Fitspiration content that is self-generated by users and consumers of social media has received much attention in the body image and disordered eating literature. Most studies have been content analyses of specific social media websites (Facebook, Instagram, etc.; e.g. Carrotte, Prichard, & Lim, 2017; Carrotte, Vella, & Lim, 2015). The few experimental studies in the area have been cross-sectional and generally find that exposure to fitspiration content is associated with increased body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and negative mood (e.g. Holland & Tiggemann, 2017; Robinson et al., 2017). To date, no experimental study on fitspiration has used an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) component, which is of interest because it assesses micro-longitudinal data. Thus, the current study examined for the first time the effects of fitspiration images (relative to neutral images) on body dissatisfaction, mood and disordered eating using an experimental EMA design.

A model within the eating disorder literature that comprehensively examines the impact of sociocultural influences on body image and disordered eating is the Tripartite Influence Model (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Thompson et al. (1999) proposed three harmful primary sources of appearance pressures: media, peers and family. These three sources are related to eating pathology through thin-ideal internalization and social comparison of appearance. Thin-ideal internalization refers to the adoption of societally-endorsed body ideals as one's physical appearance standard, and appearance comparison refers to the comparison of one's appearance to others' appearances. Increased exposure to sociocultural pressures, such as through thin-ideal images, leads to increased body dissatisfaction and eating pathology, because of the perceived disparity between an individual’s ideal and actual physical appearance (Stice, 2002; Stice, Marti, & Durant, 2011).

Several cross-sectional studies examining the validity of the Tripartite Influence Model have concluded that both internalization and appearance comparison contribute to body dissatisfaction and an increase in disordered eating behaviors (e.g. Hazzard et al., 2019; Javier & Belgrave, 2015; Shagar, Donovan, Loxton, Boddy, & Harris, 2019; Shroff & Thompson, 2006), with social comparison considered a stronger predictor of body dissatisfaction in girls and women than thin-ideal internalization (e.g. Javier & Belgrave, 2015; Schaefer & Blodgett Salafia, 2014). This finding held true in a longitudinal sample too, where the internalization of media ideals predicted appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction, and internalized appearance comparison predicted body dissatisfaction up to 14 months later (Rodgers, Chabrol, & Paxton, 2011). Although the Tripartite Influence Model (Thompson et al., 1999) posits that the media is an influential component for the internalization of the thin ideal and social comparison, research initially focused on classical mass media, such as magazines, television and movies. The model is therefore outdated in that its premises have not been updated to social media platforms, with no study to date assessing how the components of the model are affected by specific social media trends, such as fitspiration.

Before the trend of fitspiration, 'thinspiration' or 'thinspo' was a phenomenon popularized through social media and associated with increased unhealthy dietary practices and disordered eating behaviors (e.g. Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002; Talbot, Gavin, van Steen, & Morey, 2017). A wealth of research has been conducted on the thinspiration trend, which itself refers to media that glorifies thinness, thin ideals and weight loss, and hence promotes the thin-ideal (e.g. Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015; Talbot et al., 2017). Thinspiration does not have the same focus on exercise behavior as the fitspiration trend. A recent meta-analytic review found that increased interaction with thinspiration content on social media was associated with the internalization of the thin ideal with a small to moderate effect size (r = 0.18; Mingoia, Hutchinson, Wilson, & Gleaves, 2017). However, given its more recent popularity, little is known of the impact of fitspiration content on thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors.

While fitspiration and thinspiration may have different aims, fitspiration images can also highlight bone protrusions, thigh gaps and thin-objectification. Fitspiration content analysis studies, therefore, indicate a consistent theme of idealizing the thin body, while simultaneously promoting and valuing muscularity (e.g. Carrotte et al., 2017; Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015). As a result, there is growing concern that fitspiration content may be harmful, given its current popularity. Accordingly, the few studies that have assessed the effects of fitspiration images (e.g. Griffiths et al., 2018; Yee et al., 2020 have revealed that emphasizing muscularity (as Fitspiration does)—within pre-existing ideals of thinness—is associated with similar harms as emphasizing thinspiration (e.g. Uhlmann, Donovan, Zimmer-Gembeck, Bell, & Ramme, 2018). This ultimately suggests that the internalization of fit or athletic fitspiration images is also harmful for women.

A recent study (Carrotte et al., 2017) investigating gender differences in fitspiration content across social media platforms found that social media users described themselves as more inspired to engage in physical activity after viewing fitspiration images as opposed to thinspiration images. However, even though exposure to fitspiration images increased body dissatisfaction, these images did not increase participants’ likelihood of engaging in higher levels of exercise, implying that fitspiration may not motivate actual exercise behaviour (Carrotte et al., 2017). This is concerning because the ostensible aim of fitspiration is to do so, and instead it resulted only in increased body dissatisfaction. While several correlational studies (e.g. Boepple et al., 2016; Griffiths et al., 2018; Holland & Tiggemann, 2017) have indicated a positive relationship between exposure to fitspiration images and disordered eating, only experimental or longitudinal studies allow conclusions to be drawn regarding causation between these constructs.

Given the novelty of fitspiration content, only a few experimental studies have been conducted in this area of research (e.g. Prichard, Mclachlan, Lavis, & Tiggemann, 2018; Robinson et al., 2017; Slater, Varsani, & Diedrichs, 2017). For example, a study by Prichard et al. (2018) randomly allocated female participants to view fitspiration media which depicted the body in either a functional (engaging in active exercise) versus a non-functional (posed) manner. The results of this study indicated that overall exposure to fitspiration content, irrespective of whether it was functional or non-functional, lead to decreases in state body satisfaction and increases in negative mood (Prichard et al., 2018). This signified a substantial increase in negative consequences following exposure to fitspiration content, which is also congruent with another experimental study that found greater body dissatisfaction in women who viewed images of the thin, fit and muscular ideal (Robinson et al., 2017).

To our knowledge, only one EMA study has looked at the micro-longitudinal effects of viewing fitspiration images on social media on body image and mood. The study reported small effect sizes for the associations between fitspiration exposure, body satisfaction and positive affect (Cohen's ds ranged from |0.03–0.04|), but no significant association with negative affect (Griffiths & Stefanovski, 2019). However, no experimental EMA study— whereby participants are exposed to fitspiration images through a mobile app at various times of day—has assessed the impact of fitspiration images on body image and disordered eating. Compared to traditional self-report and experimental studies, EMA provides researchers access to the study of behavior in its natural context and therefore extends previous findings through improved ecological validity and extended data collection (Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008). Specifically, EMA can identify fluctuations in longitudinal in-the-moment behaviors (such as viewing fitspiration images) and their effect on state characteristics (such as body dissatisfaction, mood and engagement in compensatory behaviors; Smyth & Stone, 2003).

This study aimed to assess for the first time the influence of fitspiration images (e.g., women exercising, women in exercise gear, muscular women etc.), relative to neutral images (e.g., furniture, plants, paintings) via an experimental EMA design on satisfaction with different body attributes, pressures to change one’s body, disordered eating behaviors and mood. Given that the Tripartite Influence Model for eating pathology highlights that pressures from the family, media and peers, appearance comparisons and internalization of the thin ideal lead to body dissatisfaction and eating pathology, a further aim was to assess whether these trait variables moderated the relationships between exposure to fitspiration images and any of the state-based variables (Thompson et al., 1999; Rogers et al., 2011).

Trait thin-ideal internalization was assessed as internalization of both the thin ideal and the muscular ideal, due to the fact that fitspiration emphasizes both a toned and muscular physique (Robinson et al., 2017; Schaefer et al., 2015). While thin-ideal internalization relates to the internalization of leanness/thinness alone, the muscular ideal, which until recently has been studied mainly in males (Frederick et al., 2007), refers to a more toned, fit and athletic ideal. In females, the concept of the thin ideal has commonly been linked to a lean/slim appearance (Thompson et al., 1999), but more recent research has shown that women strive to attain both a thin and toned/athletic physique (Uhlmann et al., 2018; Uhlmann, Donovan, & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2019).

Based on the literature explored above, it was hypothesized that:

  • 1

    Exposure to fitspiration compared to neutral images would heighten state variables of dissatisfaction with various body attributes, appearance comparisons, perceived pressures to change one’s body, negative mood and disordered eating behaviours.

  • 2

    Trait pressures from the family, media and peers, appearance comparisons, internalization of the thin and muscular ideal, and body dissatisfaction would moderate the relationship between fitspiration images and the state-based variables, such that the relationship would be stronger among individuals with higher scores of these trait measures in comparison to those with lower scores.

Section snippets

Image type

Due to a lack of validated images, we conducted a pilot study to construct two sets of images (fitspiration and neutral) for the experimental stimuli. Firstly, the student researcher (P.S.) sourced 60 images for each of the two image conditions (120 images in total) from Instagram. These images were then reviewed by the student’s research supervisors (I.K. & L.H). The search terms ‘#fitspo’ and ‘#fitspiration’ were used to gather the initial pool of fitspiration images. For the control

Compliance

The average number of EMA surveys completed per participant was 34.69 (SD = 5.93). Compliance rates for EMA surveys were not significantly related to age (r = .04, p = .714), BMI (r = .07, p = .510), trait body dissatisfaction (r = .01, p = .943), appearance comparisons (r = −.08, p = .476), internalization of the thin ideal (r = −.04, p = .698), internalization of the muscular ideal (r = .00, p = .975), or appearance-related pressure from family (r = .02, p = .838), peers (r = .02, p = .852),

Discussion

Using an experimental EMA design spanning 7 days, we examined for the first time whether exposure to fitspiration images in real life affected satisfaction with different body attributes, disordered eating, and current mood in women. We then examined whether these effects were moderated by trait levels of pressure to obtain an idealized physique from the family, the media and peers, appearance comparisons, internalization of the thin and muscularity ideals and body dissatisfaction. These

Author statement

Isabel Krug: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Original draft, Reviewing, Student Supervision.

Poorna Selvaraja (Student): Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Collection, Writing.

Elizabeth K. Hughes: Conceptualization, Methodology, Student Supervision, Reviewing and Editing.

Scott Griffiths: Reviewing and Editing.

Amy Slater: Reviewing and Editing.

Zhi Wei Yee (Student): Conceptualization, Methodology.

Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz: Software, Data analyses, Visualization, Validation, Writing-

Funding

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

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

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