Muscles and bare chests on Instagram: The effect of Influencers’ fashion and fitspiration images on men’s body image.
Abstract
Despite men using social media in increasing numbers, as yet there has been little research addressing effects on men's body image. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of exposure to idealized male Instagram images on men's body satisfaction. Participants were 300 men aged 18-30 years who were randomly assigned to view clothed (fashion) images, bare-chested (fitspiration) images, or control images of scenery, posted by the same male Instagram Influencers. It was found that exposure to bare-chested and muscular images resulted in significantly lower body satisfaction relative to viewing clothed fashion images or scenery images, which did not differ from each other. The clothed and bare-chested conditions did not differ in amount of appearance-based social comparison, nor in reported inspiration to exercise or eat healthily. Nor was there any moderation of effects by muscular-ideal internalization. It was concluded that although they are vulnerable to some types of social media imagery, results typically obtained for women cannot simply be generalized to men.
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Three moderate- to high-quality experimental studies demonstrated that exposure to fitspiration imagery relative to control images resulted in body image dissatisfaction and negative mood for participants.
“Three moderate- to high- quality experimental studies demonstrated that exposure to fitspiration imagery relative to control images resulted in body image dissatisfaction and negative mood for participants, pointing towards a causal relationship [60–62].”
From The social media diet: A scoping review to investigate the association between social media, body image and eating disorders amongst young people (2023) · cites this paper as [62]
Exposure to fitspiration imagery relative to control images has a causal relationship with body image dissatisfaction and negative mood.
“Three moderate- to high- quality experimental studies demonstrated that exposure to fitspiration imagery relative to control images resulted in body image dissatisfaction and negative mood for participants, pointing towards a causal relationship [60–62].”
From The social media diet: A scoping review to investigate the association between social media, body image and eating disorders amongst young people (2023) · cites this paper as [62]
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“Three moderate-to high-quality experimental studies demonstrated that exposure to fitspiration imagery relative to control images resulted in body image dissatisfaction and negative mood for participants, pointing towards a causal relationship [60–62].”
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“With the rise of trends such as “fitspiration” and content showcasing muscular male bodies (Tiggemann and Anderberg, 2020), men are increasingly subject to idealized body standards, which may lead to similar psychological outcomes as observed in women.”
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“After viewing such content, men are more likely to engage in excessive exercise and to take anabolic steroids with potential negative health outcomes (Cafri et al., 2006; Horwitz et al., 2019; Mossman and Pacey, 2019; Tiggemann and Anderberg, 2020).”
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- Authors
- Tiggemann, M., & Anderberg, I.
- Affiliations
- Flinders University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Tiggemann, Marika
- Venue
- Body Image
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 35
- Pages
- 237-244
- ISSN
- 1740-1445 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3096371701
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 3.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Body Image (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council (DP150101295)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- men's body image, body satisfaction, Instagram influencers, fitspiration, fashion image, exercise motivation, health motivation, social media exposure, young men
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Body Image, Humans, Male, Men, Muscles, Personal Satisfaction, Exercise, Young Adult, Social Media
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