Is Fitspiration Truly an Inspiration? Relationships between Fitspiration, Exercise, and Body Image

Health Behavior Research Volume 4 Number 2 Special Issue Article 9 April 2021 Is Fitspiration Truly an Inspiration? Relationships between Fitspiration, Exercise, and Body Image Anna K. Bowles University of Mississippi, Shana M. Walsh Peru State College, Thomas L. Andre University of Mississippi, Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/hbr Part of the Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, and the Women's Health Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License Recommended Citation Bowles, Anna K.; Walsh, Shana M.; and Andre, Thomas L. (2021) "Is Fitspiration Truly an Inspiration? Relationships between Fitspiration, Exercise, and Body Image," Health Behavior Research: Vol. 4: No. 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/2572-1836.1101 This Research Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Health Behavior Research by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact . Is Fitspiration Truly an Inspiration? Relationships between Fitspiration, Exercise, and Body Image Abstract Young adults across the United States struggle to meet physical activity recommendations and consume healthy diets, and they often suffer from issues related to body image. Social media influencers dedicated to fitspiration (i.e., fitness inspiration) are purported to have a goal of inspiring others to lead healthier lifestyles. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between fitspiration and exercise and body image perceptions amongst college students. Participants (n = 361, mean age = 20.2 years, 78% female) completed surveys that included sociodemographic information, social media usage, fitspiration content engagement, exercise, and body satisfaction. An independent samples t-test assessed differences in exercise by fitspiration viewership, and a chi-square analysis determined relationships between fitspiration and body satisfaction. Participants were routinely active on social media (91% use it for > 1 hour per day), and 61.5% were exposed to fitspiration content. Approximately 41% of respondents have followed exercise advice from fitspiration influencers, though only 11% reported having purchased products. No relationships were reported between following fitspiration and days per week of exercise (M∆ = .02(.20), p = .91). Participants that followed fitspiration were more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies, X2 (1, n = 316) =7.77, p = .005, compared to participants who did not. Findings demonstrate fitspiration was not related to exercise and was related to poorer body image perceptions among college students. These results are supported by previous findings and indicate a critical misalignment between the purported purpose of fitspiration and the outcome of its viewing. Keywords social media, health behavior, fitspo, exercise Acknowledgements/Disclaimers/Disclosures The authors have no conflict of interest to report, financial or otherwise. This research article is available in Health Behavior Research: https://newprairiepress.org/hbr/vol4/iss2/9 Bowles et al.: FITSPIRATION, EXERCISE, AND BODY IMAGE Is Fitspiration Truly an Inspiration? Relationships between Fitspiration, Exercise, and Body Image Anna K. Bowles, BS Shana M. Walsh, PhD Thomas L. Andre, PhD* Abstract Young adults across the United States struggle to meet physical activity recommendations and consume healthy diets, and they often suffer from issues related to body image. Social media influencers dedicated to fitspiration (i.e., fitness inspiration) are purported to have a goal of inspiring others to lead healthier lifestyles. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between fitspiration and exercise and body image perceptions amongst college students. Participants (n = 361, mean age = 20.2 years, 78% female) completed surveys that included sociodemographic information, social media usage, fitspiration content engagement, exercise, and body satisfaction. An independent samples t-test assessed differences in exercise by fitspiration viewership, and a chi-square analysis determined relationships between fitspiration and body satisfaction. Participants were routinely active on social media (91% use it for > 1 hour per day), and 61.5% were exposed to fitspiration content. Approximately 41% of respondents have followed exercise advice from fitspiration influencers, though only 11% reported having purchased products. No relationships were reported between following fitspiration and days per week of exercise (M∆ = .02(.20), p = .91). Participants that followed fitspiration were more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies, X2 (1, n = 316) =7.77, p = .005, compared to participants who did not. Findings demonstrate fitspiration was not related to exercise and was related to poorer body image perceptions among college students. These results are supported by previous findings and indicate a critical misalignment between the purported purpose of fitspiration and the outcome of its viewing. *Corresponding author can be reached at: Since its inception, the rise of social media has been prolific. At present, more than 45% of the global population, or 3.6 billion people, are active on social media (Statista, 2020). Given this, social media has been leveraged as an income-generating platform to launch or support careers and has led to a new type of micro-celebrity called an influencer (Khamis et al., 2017). Social media influencers create public identities and brand themselves. While this concept is not novel, the broad reach social media allows influencers to have is new (Labrecque et al., 2011). Influencers build reputations for themselves by demonstrating knowledge in one area, and then persuade their audiences Published by New Prairie Press, 2021 (i.e., followers) to take their recommendations for product purchases (Khamis et al., 2017). Recent evidence suggests social media influencers are effective in motivating consumer behavior, and they are sought out and paid by companies for their influence on their followers (Lim et al., 2017). One type of social media influencer is one that produces content called fitspiration. Fitspiration, commonly abbreviated as ‘fitspo,’ is a blending of the words ‘fitness’ and ‘inspiration,’ and refers to content designed to inspire others to become more physically fit. A search (December, 2020) of the hashtag “fitspo” on Instagram reveals 72.2 million posts, while “fitspiration” 1 Health Behavior Research, Vol. 4, No. 2 [2021], Art. 9 garners another 18.9 million posts. Fitspiration posts commonly include photographs or images of people and food, and fitspiration influencers may dedicate their personal brands to exercise and diet tips, videos, and program sales (Boepple et al., 2016; Boepple & Thompson, 2016; Carrotte et al., 2017). While inspiring others to achieve health (...truncated)