Examining the impact of daily exposure to body-positive and fitspiration Instagram content on young women’s mood and body image: An intensive longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110389
Author(s):  
Giulia Fioravanti ◽  
Andrea Svicher ◽  
Giulia Ceragioli ◽  
Viola Bruni ◽  
Silvia Casale

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of daily exposure to body-positive and fitspiration Instagram posts on young women’s mood, body satisfaction, and appearance comparison tendency. One hundred and twenty-two young Italian women (Mage = 22.29 ± 2.26 years) were randomly assigned to three different conditions of daily exposure on Instagram (i.e., body-positive, fitspiration and neutral content) and followed with an experience sampling method over a period of 28 consecutive days. Comparisons between groups were performed via multilevel regression modelled as a linear growth model. Results showed that daily exposure to body-positive images was associated with the highest rates of growth of positive mood and body satisfaction. Daily exposure to fitspiration images was associated with the highest rates of growth of negative mood and appearance comparison. In conclusion, the body-positive movement may be considered in interventions aimed at improving young women’s body image. Fitspiration content on Instagram should be deemed inappropriate.

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1546-1564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Cohen ◽  
Jasmine Fardouly ◽  
Toby Newton-John ◽  
Amy Slater

Body-positive content on social media aims to challenge mainstream beauty ideals and encourage acceptance and appreciation of all body types. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of viewing body-positive Instagram posts on young women’s mood and body image. Participants were 195 young women (18–30 years old) who were randomly allocated to view either body-positive, thin-ideal, or appearance-neutral Instagram posts. Results showed that brief exposure to body positive posts was associated with improvements in young women’s positive mood, body satisfaction and body appreciation, relative to thin-ideal and appearance-neutral posts. In addition, both thin-ideal and body-positive posts were associated with increased self-objectification relative to appearance-neutral posts. Finally, participants showed favourable attitudes towards the body positive accounts with the majority being willing to follow them in the future. It was concluded that body-positive content may offer a fruitful avenue for improving young women’s body image, although further research is necessary to fully understand the effects on self-objectification.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 617-639
Author(s):  
Renee Engeln ◽  
Megan N. Imundo

Introduction: Messages encouraging women to love their bodies are common elements of positive body image movements, but there are theoretical reasons to suspect that such messages may backfire. Methods: In a sample of 293 college women, we tested the impact of mentally repeating the affirmation “I love my body” on body satisfaction. We prompted participants to think either “I love my body” (affirmation condition) or “I am [age] years old” (control condition) while they completed a five-minute writing task. Results: Relative to the control, the affirmation condition led to significantly lower body satisfaction. Additionally, 53% of affirmation condition participants counterargued the body affirmation by writing something negative about their appearance; only 6% in the control condition wrote a negative appearance comment. Discussion: Results suggest that some messages intended to promote positive body image have the potential to decrease women's body satisfaction, in part because they prompt women to think of flaws in their appearance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 726-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra D Convertino ◽  
Rachel F Rodgers ◽  
Debra L Franko ◽  
Adriana Jodoin

This study evaluated the impact on young women’s body satisfaction of an advertising campaign: Aerie Real, which included images of models who were not digitally modified. In total, 200 female students were randomly allocated to view either Aerie Real images or digitally modified images from previous campaigns. In the total sample, no condition differences appeared. However, participants with high appearance comparison reported a smaller decrease in body satisfaction after viewing the Aerie Real images as compared to those viewing previous images ( p = .003). Findings provide preliminary support for the Aerie Real campaign as less deleterious form of media for body image.


1981 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 224-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Garner

Despite much recent interest in the objective measurement of body image in anorexia nervosa, many questions remain regarding basic mechanisms responsible for the findings as well as their meaning in the disorder. It is unclear if “whole body” measures assess the same underlying phenomena as the “body part” method, and it is unclear if body image disturbances are etiologic or a byproduct of anorexia nervosa. The possible association between self-esteem and body satisfaction and the relationship of the latter variable to actual size estimation supports the hypothesis that size perception may be closely tied to satisfaction with non-physical aspects of self. Finally it must be determined if over estimation is a function of a general psychological disturbance or of a deficit of specific interest in this disorder. Despite these questions, the way in which anorexic patients see themselves as well as the cognitive and affective responses to this perception remains an interesting and potentially fruitful area of study with this disorder.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-341
Author(s):  
Ruvira Arindita

Previous researches showed that there is relation between body image satisfaction and depression in perinatal period. Given this fact, it is important to educate and find ways to enhance mothers’ postpartum self-esteem and body satisfaction. For the last decade body image literature has risen and brought to new discussion about body positivity. This research focuses on women’s body positivity campaign presented by Mothercare called #BodyProudMums. The objective of this research is to identify the storytelling elements used to promote women’s body positivity campaign and whether the issue creates good brand story for Mothercare. The concepts used are body positivity, postpartum, brand storytelling, and social media with qualitative content analysis as research method. The unit of analysis are ten posts of #BodyProudMums campaign on @mothercareuk, while the samples are three randomly chosen posts. This research notes that the body positivity messages of body appreciation, body acceptance, and love, as well as broad conceptualization of beauty are carried out by the elements of storytelling namely: basic plots (the quest), archetype (the change master) with the following story objectives: communicating who they are, fostering collaboration, transmitting values and sparking action. There are only three out of four elements of good brand story present on the campaign. However, the absence of humor element is justified because of the nature of the postpartum story in which it shares mothers’ hardship and how they finally cope with it. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of mothers’ body positivity creates good brand story for Mothercare. Key words: positive body image, postpartum, brand storytelling, social media


Author(s):  
Bhawini Vasudeva

The aim to conduct this research is to enlighten the impact of body image dissatisfaction on an individual’s self-esteem and to examine whether there is a gender difference in this case or not. There are a total of 220 numbers of participants, with equal number of males and females in the sample set. The tool that’d be using here is a modified short version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) by Cooper et. Al. in the year in 1987 and The Rosenberg self-esteem scale by Morris Rosenberg (RSES) in the year 1965. The current research proved that whenever there’ll be higher body image dissatisfaction, it’ll result in less self-esteem. Other than that, it stated that females (M= 22.69 and SD= 3.64) have a higher mean score in body image dissatisfaction than and males (M=23.28 and SD= 3.6), therefore, the men have a higher mean score of self-esteem than females.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 484-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamal H. Essayli ◽  
Jessica M. Murakami ◽  
Rebecca E. Wilson ◽  
Janet D. Latner

Purpose: To explore the psychological impact of weight labels. Design: A double-blind experiment that randomly informed participants that they were “normal weight” or “overweight.” Setting: Public university in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Participants: Normal-weight and overweight female undergraduates (N = 113). Measures: The Body Image States Scale, Stunkard Rating Scale, Weight Bias Internalization Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, General Health question from the 12-item Short Form Health Survey, modified version of the Weight Loss Methods Scale, and a manipulation check. Analysis: A 2 × 2 between-subjects analysis of variance explored the main effects of the assigned weight label and actual weight and interactions between assigned weight label and actual weight. Results: Significant main effects of the assigned weight label emerged on measures of body dissatisfaction, F(1, 109) = 12.40, p = .001, [Formula: see text] = 0.10, internalized weight stigma, F(1, 108) = 4.35, p = .039, [Formula: see text] = .04, and negative affect, F(1, 108) = 9.22, p = .003, [Formula: see text] = .08. Significant assigned weight label × actual weight interactions were found on measures of perceived body image, F(1, 109) = 6.29, p = .014, [Formula: see text] = .06, and perceived health, F(1, 109) = 4.18, p = .043, [Formula: see text] = .04. Conclusion: A weight label of “overweight” may have negative psychological consequences, particularly for overweight women.


2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ornella Montebarocci ◽  
Federica Lo Dato ◽  
Bruno Baldaro ◽  
Paolo Morselli ◽  
Nicolino C. F. Rossi

As breast reconstruction is an important adjunct after mastectomy to regain physical integrity and also to improve affect, the present aim was to evaluate patients' subjective perceptions of body image during the whole breast reconstruction period and to assess the importance of their psychological reaction in terms of negative affectivity. Participants were 62 women, 43 women ( M age = 46.4, SD = 9.8) who had had mastectomies and 19 healthy women ( M age = 39.9, SD= 13.99). Patients were admitted for surgery at the Hospital S. Orsola in Bologna. Healthy subjects were relatives of the women and students, all with no history of breast pathology. The Body Satisfaction Scale and the State Anxiety Inventory-Y were administered to the two groups before, post, and 6 mo. after surgery. Analysis of scores indicated that during the period of the study, the women with mastectomies reported higher anxiety and also greater dissatisfaction with their body image than the healthy group, even when the breast had been reconstructed. This unexpected finding suggests patients' unrealistic expectations of the breast reconstruction and the surgical outcome.


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