Young People’s Experiences of Engaging With Fitspiration on Instagram: Gendered Perspective

• Published in: Journal of medical Internet research 2021-10, Vol.23 (10), p.e17811-e17811
• Main Authors: Mayoh, Joanne, Jones, Ian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accounts; Athletes; Bodybuilding; Celebrities; Consumers; Consumption; Data; Diet; Gender roles; Healthy food; Inspiration; Internet; Masculinity; Motivation; Original Paper; Physical fitness; Popularity; Social media; Social networks; Social norms; Social research; Weight loss; Women; Young adults; Young men; Youth
• ISSN: 1438-8871; 1439-4456; 1438-8871
• DOI: 10.2196/17811

Background: Fitness inspiration or fitspiration is a term used to describe web-based images of fit people, people in the gym, health foods, or inspirational quotes relating to diet and fitness being shared and consumed via visual social media. The popularity of this content is most notable via the Instagram platform. Currently, the majority of fitspiration research has focused on women’s experiences; however, increasingly, studies have pointed to the need to explore the gendered ways by which people engage with this content. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore how young men and women engage in fitspiration content on Instagram and provide a gendered analysis of how and why they consume this content. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional web-based survey (N=1213) of UK-based fitspiration users aged 18-24 years consisting of closed-ended questions to capture quantitative data. Results: The majority actively using Instagram for fitspiration (therefore eligible participants) were women (826/1175, 70.30%). Men were more likely to view content posted by athletes (χ21, N=1153=71.8; P=.001) and bodybuilders (χ21, N=1153=32.8; P