The Impact of Following Instagram Influencers on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Procedure
- Appear in Instagram searches if at least one of the following keywords was entered: “fit”, “healthy”, “fitness”, “workout”, “fitspo”.
- Daily publication of content relating to physical activity.
- Must not be nutrition professionals (dieticians, nutritional biologists, nutritional doctors) or entertainment influencers.
- Appear in Instagram searches if at least one of the following keywords was entered: “diet”, “dietician”, “nutritionist”, “nutrition”, “healthy eating”.
- Daily publication of content relating to nutrition.
- Must be licensed nutrition professionals.
- Daily publication of content relating to three or more of the following topics: comedy/entertainment, daily life events, TV series, music, books, entertainment.
- Must not be nutrition professionals and/or fitness influencers.
2.2. Measures
2.2.1. Eating Attitudes Test–26
2.2.2. Stunkard Figure Rating Scale
2.2.3. Ad Hoc Questions Assessing Instagram Use
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Chi-Square Differences between the Three Sub-Samples
3.2. One-Way ANOVAs Differences between the Three Sub-Samples
3.3. Correlations and Regression Analyses in the Total Sample
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Fitness Influencer Sample (N = 1439) | Nutrition Influencer Sample (N = 1672) | Entertainment Influencer Sample (N = 1949) | χ2 (df) | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Demographics | n | n | n | ||
Education | 2206.014 (10) | <0.001 | |||
Middle school diploma | 628 | 120 | 24 | ||
High school diploma | 403 | 744 | 637 | ||
Bachelor’s degree | 371 | 288 | 500 | ||
Master’s degree | 0 | 487 | 760 | ||
PhD or higher qualification | 37 | 33 | 28 | ||
Occupation | 182.806 (10) | <0.001 | |||
Worker | 923 | 937 | 1211 | ||
Self-employed/freelancer | 269 | 340 | 307 | ||
Student | 176 | 142 | 312 | ||
Unoccupied | 64 | 231 | 114 | ||
Retired | 7 | 22 | 5 | ||
Instagram use | n | n | n | ||
Time spent on Instagram a day | 178.847 (6) | <0.001 | |||
Less than one hour | 192 | 467 | 243 | ||
1–2 h | 878 | 888 | 1214 | ||
3–4 h | 324 | 272 | 434 | ||
More than 4 h | 45 | 45 | 58 | ||
Time spent a day on fitness content | 268.991 (8) | <0.001 | |||
I do not follow fit content | 180 | 489 | 701 | ||
Less than one hour | 1129 | 1017 | 1154 | ||
1–2 h | 128 | 154 | 88 | ||
3–4 h | 2 | 11 | 6 | ||
More than 4 h | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Time spent a day on nutritional contents | 492.655 (8) | <0.001 | |||
I do not follow nutritional content | 178 | 56 | 514 | ||
Less than one hour | 1120 | 1288 | 1311 | ||
1–2 h | 137 | 308 | 120 | ||
3–4 h | 4 | 19 | 4 | ||
More than 4 h | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Time spent a day on entertainment content | 442.317 (8) | <0.001 | |||
I do not follow entertainment content | 65 | 223 | 24 | ||
Less than one hour | 748 | 988 | 849 | ||
1–2 h | 571 | 414 | 943 | ||
3–4 h | 50 | 39 | 129 | ||
More than 4 h | 5 | 8 | 4 | ||
Frequency of posting photos of oneself | 91.037 (6) | <0.001 | |||
Never | 809 | 998 | 910 | ||
Less than one time a week | 586 | 581 | 956 | ||
1–4 times a week | 35 | 85 | 69 | ||
Every day | 9 | 8 | 14 | ||
Have you ever received an ED diagnosis? | 48.252 (2) | <0.001 | |||
Yes | 162 | 289 | 179 | ||
No | 1291 | 1473 | 1787 | ||
At risk for Eds (EAT-26 score ≥ 20) | 145.826 (2) | <0.001 | |||
Yes | 214 | 425 | 191 | ||
No | 1239 | 1337 | 1775 |
Fitness Influencer (N = 1439) | Nutritional Influencer (N = 1672) | Entertainment Influencer (N = 1949) | F(df = 2) | p | η2 | Bonferroni Post Hoc Test | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M ± SD | M ± SD | M ± SD | |||||
Age (years) | 34.72 ± 8.92 | 39.88 ± 10.07 | 31.88 ± 7.08 | 386.618 | <0.001 | 0.13 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” > “Entertainment” |
BMI (kg/m2) | 23.09 ± 3.90 | 24.94 ± 5.72 | 23.27 ± 4.50 | 74.731 | <0.001 | 0.03 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” & “Entertainment” |
Dieting | 6.27 ± 6.38 | 8.44 ± 7.30 | 4.82 ± 5.60 | 143.589 | <0.001 | 0.05 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” > “Entertainment” |
Bulimia and Food preoccupation | 1.93 ± 2.97 | 2.81 ± 3.55 | 1.36 ± 2.61 | 102.467 | <0.001 | 0.04 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” > “Entertainment” |
Oral control | 0.86 ± 1.65 | 1.22 ± 2.17 | 0.89 ± 1.80 | 18.713 | <0.001 | 0.007 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” & “Entertainment” |
ED symptoms and concerns (total EAT26) | 9.16 ± 9.79 | 12.63 ± 11.64 | 7.17 ± 8.62 | 134.515 | <0.001 | 0.05 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” > “Entertainment” |
Body dissatisfaction | 1.46 ± 1.29 | 1.84 ± 1.38 | 1.36 ± 1.29 | 63.533 | <0.001 | 0.02 | “Nutritional” > “Fit” & “Entertainment” |
M ± SD | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Age (years) | 35.33 ± 9.33 | - | 0.23 ** | 0.03 * | −0.002 | −0.09 ** | 0.002 | 0.18 ** | −0.23 ** |
2. BMI (kg/m2) | 23.77 ± 4.86 | - | 0.16 ** | 0.22 ** | −0.13 ** | 0.14 ** | 0.58 ** | 0.01 | |
3. Dieting | 6.43 ± 6.60 | - | 76 ** | 0.42 ** | 0.96 ** | 0.39 ** | 0.08 ** | ||
4. Bulimia and food preoccupation | 2 ± 3.11 | - | 0.35 ** | 0.86 ** | 0.38 ** | 0.12 ** | |||
5. Oral control | 0.99 ± 1.90 | - | 0.58 ** | −0.04 ** | 0.06 ** | ||||
6. ED symptoms and concerns (EAT26 total score) | 9.54 ± 10.29 | - | 0.35 ** | 0.10 ** | |||||
7. Body dissatisfaction | 1.55 ± 1.34 | - | 0.06 ** | ||||||
8. Time spent on Instagram daily (hours) | 2.08 ± 0.70 | - |
Criterion Variable | ED Symptoms and Concerns | Dieting | Bulimia and Food Preoccupation | Oral Control | Body Dissatisfaction | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | t | β | t | β | t | β | t | β | t | |
Age | −0.09 ** | −6.092 | −0.06 ** | −4.352 | −0.10 ** | −6.744 | −0.09 ** | −6.207 | 0.05 ** | 4.205 |
BMI | 0.12 ** | 8.473 | 0.14 ** | 10.016 | 0.21 ** | 15.543 | −0.14 ** | −9.657 | 0.56 ** | 47.325 |
Time spent on Instagram daily | 0.11 ** | 8.264 | 0.10 ** | 7.067 | 0.13 ** | 9.431 | 0.06 ** | 4.303 | 0.07 ** | 6.245 |
Following nutrition influencers (0 = entertainment) | 0.28 ** | 17.545 | 0.28 ** | 17.064 | 0.24 ** | 15.276 | 0.15 ** | 9.265 | 0.07 ** | 4.897 |
Following fitness influencers (0 = entertainment) | 0.10 ** | 6.278 | 0.11 ** | 7.314 | 0.10 ** | 6.790 | 0.005 | 0.348 | 0.04 * | 2.798 |
% of variance explained | 8% | 8% | 11% | 4% | 34% |
Criterion Variable | ED Symptoms and Concerns | Dieting | Bulimia and Food Preoccupation | Oral Control | Body Dissatisfaction | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | t | β | t | β | t | β | t | β | t | |
Age | −0.09 ** | −5.918 | −0.06 ** | −4.081 | −0.09 ** | −6.604 | −0.10 ** | −6.419 | 0.06 ** | 4.889 |
BMI | 0.11 ** | 8.359 | 0.14 ** | 10.020 | 0.21 ** | 15.456 | −0.14 ** | −9.958 | 0.55 ** | 47.279 |
Time spent on Instagram daily | 0.11 ** | 7.973 | 0.09 ** | 6.657 | 0.13 ** | 9.293 | 0.06 ** | 4.055 | 0.07 ** | 6.354 |
Following nutrition influencers (0 = fitness) | 0.17 ** | 10.136 | 0.15 ** | 9.065 | 0.13 ** | 7.833 | 0.15 ** | 8.692 | 0.01 | 0..970 |
Following entertainment influencers (0 = fitness) | −0.11 ** | −6.708 | −0.12 ** | −7.297 | −0.11 ** | −6.784 | −0.006 | −0.351 | −0.04 * | −2.586 |
% of variance explained | 8% | 8% | 10% | 4% | 34% |
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Bocci Benucci, S.; Fioravanti, G.; Silvestro, V.; Spinelli, M.C.; Brogioni, G.; Casalini, A.; Allegrini, L.; Altomare, A.I.; Castellini, G.; Ricca, V.; et al. The Impact of Following Instagram Influencers on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms. Nutrients 2024, 16, 2730. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16162730
Bocci Benucci S, Fioravanti G, Silvestro V, Spinelli MC, Brogioni G, Casalini A, Allegrini L, Altomare AI, Castellini G, Ricca V, et al. The Impact of Following Instagram Influencers on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms. Nutrients. 2024; 16(16):2730. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16162730
Chicago/Turabian StyleBocci Benucci, Sara, Giulia Fioravanti, Valeria Silvestro, Maria Chiara Spinelli, Giulietta Brogioni, Alessia Casalini, Lara Allegrini, Arianna Ida Altomare, Giovanni Castellini, Valdo Ricca, and et al. 2024. "The Impact of Following Instagram Influencers on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms" Nutrients 16, no. 16: 2730. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16162730