Cited by 239Eating Disorders and BehaviorsImpact of Technology on AdolescentsHealth and Lifestyle Studies

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"I aspire to look and feel healthy like the posts convey": engagement with fitness inspiration on social media and perceptions of its influence on health and wellbeing.

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Raggatt, Michelle, Wright, Cassandra J. C., Carrotte, Elise, Jenkinson, Rebecca, Mulgrew, Kate, Prichard, Ivanka, Lim, Megan S. C.·2018·BMC Public Health

DOI 10.1186/s12889-018-5930-7PMC PMC6086030

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Fitspiration is a popular social media trend containing images, quotes and advice related to exercise and healthy eating. This study aimed to 1) describe the types of fitspiration content that users access and how they engage with content, 2) investigate the disordered eating and exercise behaviours and psychological distress of individuals who access fitspiration, and 3) understand the perceived influence of fitspiration on health and wellbeing. METHODS: Participants who access fitspiration content were recruited via social media to complete a cross-sectional online survey. Participants' psychological distress was measured using the Kessler 10 Psychological Distress Scale (K10); disordered eating behaviours using the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26); and compulsive exercise behaviours using the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI). Participants also answered a series of open-ended questions about their experiences with fitspiration. A descriptive statistical analysis was conducted for quantitative data. Responses to open-ended questions were analysed for key themes using an iterative process of open, axial and thematic coding. RESULTS: Participants (N = 180, 151 female, median age 23.0 years (IQR 19.0, 28.5)) most commonly accessed content posted by personal trainers and athletes (59.4%), posts tagged with the 'fitspiration' hashtag (53.9%) and posted by 'everyday' people (53.3%). Overall, 17.7% of participants were classified as high risk for an eating disorder, 17.4% reported very high levels of psychological distress, and 10.3% were at risk of addictive exercise behaviours. Participants described both positive and negative influences of engaging with fitspiration content. The influence on their health beliefs and behaviours was explained through four key themes: 1) Setting the 'healthy ideal', 2) Failure to achieve the 'ideal', 3) Being part of a community, and 4) Access to reliable health information. CONCLUSIONS: Many participants reported benefits of fitspiration content including increased social support and access to health information. However, participants also reported that fitspiration content could negatively influence their wellbeing and perception of healthy goals. Content posted by relatable individuals or qualified experts was perceived as most trustworthy. Future research is needed to determine the individual and content-related factors associated with negative and positive fitspiration experiences.

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Research electronic data capture (REDCap)—A metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support
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“Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler 10 Psychological Distress Scale (K10) [21, 22].”
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“By providing motivation and social support fitspiration may lead to increased physical activity, which has significant benefits for physical and mental health [42, 43].”
Background
The performance of the K6 and K10 screening scales for psychological distress in the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being
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Gibson, G., Liddelow, C., Burke, K. J., & Lee, M. F. (2025) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/13591053251381895 · Cited by 1
“This progression aligns with the Tripartite Influence Model that suggests that sociocultural influences, particularly media, shape body image through mechanisms of internalisation and appearance comparison, ultimately impacting psychological outcomes (Lovering et al., 2018; Table 1).”
Reframing the reflection: Can body positive videos boost body satisfaction?
Salom, A., & Tipple, C. (2025) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2025.101980 · Cited by 1
Further evidence on the psychometric properties and convergent validity of the expanded exercise addiction inventory (EAI-3) in recreational exercisers
Arey, D. L., Levental, O., & Yaffe, Y. (2026) · The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness · doi:10.23736/s0022-4707.25.17274-5 · Cited by 1
Impact of body image on women’s fitness persistence: the chain mediation role of self-efficacy and exercise motivation
An, J., Tai, P., Peng, J., & Zhou, D. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1737243 · Cited by 1
“From a behavioral ecology perspective, Raggatt et al. (2018) reported that women who followed bloggers promoting “functional beauty” increased exercise frequency by 1.5 times, while those oriented toward “ideal body standards” showed a higher risk of anxiety.”
Influential
Lifting the Screen on Fitspiration: A Meta-Analysis
Gruest, V., & Walter, N. (2026) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2026.2653191 · Cited by 2
Spot Me: Exploring experiences of body talk between personal trainers and their women clients
Gray, P., Hurst, M., Miles, E., & Ormerod, T. C. (2026) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103158 · Cited by 1
Usos e apropriações do Facebook no campo da alimentação e nutrição: uma revisão integrativa
Passos, J. A., Vasconcellos-Silva, P. R., Santos, L. A. D. S., & Pereira, M. E. (2022) · Reciis · doi:10.29397/reciis.v16i3.2352 · Cited by 1
Influencers Detection Algorithm to Combat Rumors in Social Networks
AbdulAmeer, A. A., Salman, M. A., & Mahdi, M. A. (2022) · International Conference on Engineering Technology and its Applications (IICETA) · doi:10.1109/iiceta54559.2022.9888361 · Cited by 1
“Influencers exist in a wide range of areas, including health and fitness, fashion and beauty, food, and high-tech [18 ].”
Background
Health education and promotion of #PhysicalActivity on Twitter before and during COVID-19
Farley, Z. S., McDonough, K., Richards, E. A., & Smock, C. (2023) · Health Education Journal · doi:10.1177/00178969231154076 · Cited by 1
“…form of communication aided in the availability of diverse health information to a broad audience (Moorhead et al., 2013; Raggatt et al., 2018) and a reported increase in the popularity of social media as a primary source for health information among adults (Lupton, 2018; Raggatt et al., 2018).”
BackgroundInfluential
Psychological effects of Social Media on Real Life
Semma, A. B. (2022) · IJIP Indonesian Journal of Islamic Psychology · doi:10.18326/ijip.v4i2.154 · Cited by 1
MARKETING DE INFLUENCERS EN REDES SOCIALES
Gallego, J. S. R., & Torres, J. S. (2023) · FACE Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales · doi:10.24054/face.v21i2.1109 · Cited by 1
Combined benefits of active and passive social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: a health perspective
So, B., & Kwon, K. H. (2024) · Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication · doi:10.1108/gkmc-05-2023-0158 · Cited by 1
Just Pin It: Understanding the Dynamics of Pinterest Use, Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Health Behaviors
Dolphin, K. E., Char, R., & Rogers, S. (2024) · Health Behavior Research · doi:10.4148/2572-1836.1215
Exploring The Role of Nature of Sports in Lifestyle and Sports Engagement of Student-Athletes
Garban, C., Reillo, L. J., & Longakit, J. C. (2023) · Sports Medicine Curiosity Journal · doi:10.15294/smcj.v2i2.75834 · Cited by 1
A influência das mídias sociais sobre a obsessão por uma alimentação saudável em adolescentes
Eugenio, K. D. A., Dutra, L. Y., de Sousa, B. H. G., Santana, I. D. C., Oliveira, L. E., & Bicalho, J. M. F. (2024) · Research Society and Development · doi:10.33448/rsd-v13i4.45639 · Cited by 1
Spor Salonuna Üye Bireylerde Egzersiz Bağımlılığı ve Ortoreksiya Nervoza Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi
Tezcan, C. İ., & Alp, H. (2024) · Ulusal Spor Bilimleri Dergisi · doi:10.30769/usbd.1561899 · Cited by 1
Opportunities for Qualitative Analysis of Social Media Platforms in Dietetic Research and Practice
Lynch, M., Knežević, I., & Ryan, K. L. (2020) · Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research · doi:10.3148/cjdpr-2020-035 · Cited by 1
Impact of Fitspiration Content on Social Media among Followers in Singapore Universities
Poh, J. H. S., & Chung, H. J. (2021) · ACPES Journal of Physical Education Sport and Health (AJPESH) · doi:10.15294/ajpesh.v1i1.46316 · Cited by 2
“, eating disorders, depression, anxiety) as some research have identified mental health factors as one of the effects of viewing idealized images on social media (Alberga et al., 2018; Deighton-Smith & Bell, 2018; Raggatt et al., 2018).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluential
Pengaruh Health Anxiety dan Appearance Comparison Terhadap Body Image pada Perempuan Emerging Adults Pengguna Instagram yang Mengikuti Konten Fitspiration
Adelheid, T., & Arjadi, R. (2022) · MANASA · doi:10.25170/manasa.v11i1.3193 · Cited by 1
Before and After Images on Social Media: The Impact on Female Body Dissatisfaction of Getting Only Half the Picture
Turner, M., & Ray, A. (2023) · Communications in computer and information science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-36001-5_18 · Cited by 1
Manifestations of “the Ideal” in Cyberspace
Leong, P. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-35936-2_7
Social Media Posts' Influence on College Athletes' Protein Knowledge
Love, K. T. (2020) · doi:10.30707/etd2020.love.k
Chapter 7: The Portrayal of Women’s Sport and Fitness Attire on Instagram: A Thematic Content Analysis of #sportwear and #fitnesswear
deJonge, M. L., Nesbitt, A. E., & Sabiston, C. M. (2020) · New femininities in digital, physical and sporting cultures · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46843-9_8
The relationship between striving for muscularity, masculine identity, and steroid use among young men in Australia
Piatkowski, T. M. (2020) · Queensland University of Technology · doi:10.5204/thesis.eprints.205442
MARKETING DE INFLUENCERS EN REDES SOCIALES
Gallego, J. S. R., & Torres, J. S. (2021) · doi:10.24054/01204211.v2.n2.2021.4656
“…influenciadores de las redes sociales juegan un papel importante en el marketing al presentar productos a sus audiencias (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020); estos productos suelen encontrarse en todos los sectores: salud, estado físico, moda, belleza, comida, alta tecnología y otros (Raggatt et al., 2018).”
The Relationship of Food Addiction With Emotional Control and Socio-Cultural Factors in University Employees
Reis, E., Çakır, G., Demirkaya, H., Kuzu, N., Atay, T., & Özenoğlu, A. (2022) · Cyprus Journal of Medical Sciences · doi:10.4274/cjms.2020.3155
Marketing de influencers en redes sociales
Gallego, J. S. R., & Torres, J. S. (2021) · Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia eBooks · doi:10.22490/9789586517492.23
Qualidade das informações postadas no Instagram por influencers brasileiros em atividade física
Paes, S. T. (2021) · doi:10.34019/ufjf/te/2021/00066
Disentangling text from image effects in #bopo and #fitspo media: An experimental study (Preprint)Preprint
Berry, T. R., Locke, S., & Ori, E. M. (2022) · doi:10.2196/preprints.44015
Health-related social media use : A systematic review
Yusoff, H. A. M., Hamzah, M. R., Manaf, A. R. A., Ismail, A., Ahmad, Y., Hussin, H., & Huzili, A. I. (2023) · AIP conference proceedings · doi:10.1063/5.0132822
Social Media as Risk Factor for Eating Disorders
Parra, K., Vandenbosch, L., & Manchón, L. M. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97416-9_29-1
“Happy Women are the Most Beautiful, but…”: The Use of Weight Stigmatization and Social Comparison to Analyze Media Images
Antos, A. R., Paleka, A., & Bushman, B. (2023) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510974.2023.2227668
“Goldstraw and Keegan (2016) and Raggatt et al. (2018) qualitatively examined how women perceived Fitspiration posts on social media.”
The Relationship and Mechanisms Between Social Media Use and the Self-Objectification of Females
Yang, H., Yang, F., & Zhang, H. (2023) · American Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.11648/j.ajap.20231204.11
Social Comparison Theory: The Effects Athletic Influencers Have on an Appalachian Generation Z Men Audience
Dickens, A. D. (2023) · The Research Repository @ WVU (West Virginia University) · doi:10.33915/etd.12161
Factors associated with food choice among high school students in Depok, Indonesia
Aqilah, S. (2019) · doi:10.58837/chula.the.2019.472
The effect of social networking sites on resistance training behaviour among college students: application of a mixed model based on the theory of planned behaviourPreprint
Wei, W., Su, R.-H., Chen, L., Meng, M., & Rongrong, Z. (2023) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3320382/v1
Asociación entre el uso de las redes sociales para acceder a dietas de moda y elección de alimentos comercializados como saludables en mujeres de 18 a 40 años de Lima, Perú 2021
Aquipucho Ballon, G. A., & Cancan, S. E. E. (2021) · Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) · doi:10.19083/tesis/667237
The Philosophy of Exercise Professional Education.
Gray, J. (2023) · doi:10.46289/ww24j5a4
"Beyond Likes and Reps: A Deep Dive into the Evolution of Fitness Communities through a Customizable Social Media Platform"Preprint
Kumar, P., Rana, S., & Thakral, G. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4836692
Body Image in The Digital Era: Thinspiration, Fitspiration, And Related Disorders
Çınaroğlu, M. (2024) · Turkish Research Journal of Academic Social Science · doi:10.59372/turajas.1441987
The impact of video gaming, music, and social media on physical activities among adults in China and Germany
Huang, C., Li, R., Heinzel, S., Zhao, M., & Liu, S. (2024) · World Leisure Journal · doi:10.1080/16078055.2024.2377142
“Although some studies suggested that information in the social media might inspire physical activities (Raggatt et al., 2018), most studies found that the use of social media had negative impacts on PA (Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2020; Hudimova et al., 2021).”
The bright and dark sides of social media and its countermeasures
Ali, M., Semma, A., Suwardi, Ahmadiansah, R., & Hermawan, A. (2024) · THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TECHNOLOGY AND VOCATIONAL TEACHERS 2022 · doi:10.1063/5.0212272 · Cited by 2
Međuodnos praćenja sadržaja povezanog sa zdravom prehranom i zdravim životom na društvenim mrežama i sociokulturnog pritiska za mršavošću mladih žena u Hrvatskoj
Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Z., Blažev, M., Blažev, D., Filozofski fakultet, S. U. Z., Dević, I., Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Z., Korajlija, A. L., & Filozofski fakultet, S. U. Z. (2024) · Socijalna psihijatrija · doi:10.24869/spsih.2024.109
“It has been observed that among young women who accessed health-related content on social media, 17.7% were at a high risk of developing eating disorders, 17.4% reported high levels of psychological stress, and 10.3% showed signs of addictive exercise behavior (45).”
Influential
Utilisation du réseau Instagram pour le « Soin de soi » : Quelles implications pour les interventions de marketing social ?
Martin-Salerno, A. (2024) · Management & Avenir · doi:10.3917/mav.142.0083

Authors: Raggatt, M., Wright, C. J. C., Carrotte, E., Jenkinson, R., Mulgrew, K., Prichard, I., & Lim, M. S. C.
Affiliations: Burnet Institute (AU)
University of the Sunshine Coast (AU)
Flinders University (AU)
Corresponding author: Raggatt, Michelle
ORCID: Raggatt, Michelle
Carrotte, Elise
Jenkinson, Rebecca
Mulgrew, Kate
Prichard, Ivanka
Lim, Megan S. C.
Venue: BMC Public Health
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2018-08-10
Volume: 18
Issue: 1
Pages: 1002-1002
ISSN: 1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-018-5930-7
PMC: PMC6086030
OpenAlex: W2886105560
Cited by: 239
References: 47
Citations by year: 2026: 27 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 7
FWCI: 21.39
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (tdm)
Locations: BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Flinders Academic Commons (Flinders University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Lifestyle Studies
Keywords: fitspiration, social media, disordered eating, compulsive exercise, exercise addiction, psychological distress, eating disorders, health beliefs, social support, health information, online health content, trust in health information
MeSH terms: Diet, Healthy, Adult, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Aspirations, Psychological, Body Image, Compulsive Behavior, Cross-Sectional Studies, Emotions, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Perception, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Exercise, Young Adult, Social Media

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"I aspire to look and feel healthy like the posts convey": engagement with fitness inspiration on social media and perceptions of its influence on health and wellbeing.

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