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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.
Open accessAbstract
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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“A mixed methods study of fitspiration followers on Instagram found that 17.7% were at risk of developing an eating disorder, 17.4% demonstrated high levels of psychological distress, and 10.3% displayed addictive levels of physical exercise [65].”
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 [65]
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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].”
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“Despite an ostensible focus on healthy lifestyle behaviours, content analyses have revealed that fitspiration content commonly portrays several harmful themes [6, 8, 9].”
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“A common focus of fitness inspiration content is on exercising for appearance reasons [9], which has been associated with more negative body image [11, 12].”
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Carrotte, E. R., Prichard, I., & Lim, M. S. C. (2017) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.6368 · Cited by 278 · cited 5×
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“A common focus of fitness inspiration content is on exercising for appearance reasons [9], which has been associated with more negative body image [11, 12].”
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“We were interested in how many participants accessed both types of content as fitspiration is often credited as a healthier reaction to the thinspiration trend [30].”
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“This concept is supported by previous studies, which have found that social support may enhance the efficacy of online interventions to improve physical activity and nutrition [44, 45].”
ResultStrong is the new skinny: A content analysis of fitspiration websites
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“The public uses social media to follow and share news about trending health issues such as flu [93] and COVID-19 [1], find information on daily health behaviors such as fitness and healthy food choices [94-96], search for health advice for their own health concern such as pregnancy-related information [97], request a…”
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Metadata
- 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
- Venue
- BMC Public Health
- Published
- 2018-08-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1002-1002
- ISSN
- 1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
- 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
- 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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