Inspiration or instigation? Bidirectional links between body-focused content, body image, and disordered eating urges

Abstract

Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), we examined the bidirectional relationship between body-focused inspiration content and body image and disordered eating urges, as well as the potential moderating effect of gender on these relationships. Undergraduate men and women (n = 858; 78.3% women) reported their momentary exposure to thinspiration, fitspiration, and fatspiration content, body dissatisfaction, body objectification, body appreciation, urges to restrict food intake, and urges to exercise, six times a day for seven days. Multilevel analyses revealed that viewing thinspiration content predicted greater body dissatisfaction; viewing fitspiration content predicted lower body appreciation; and viewing fatspiration content predicted greater urges to exercise. In the reverse direction, the only significant relationship observed was that higher body objectification predicted less thinspiration content viewing. Gender did not moderate inter-individual variation in these momentary relationships. Given the non-uniform bidirectional relationship between viewing body-focused inspiration content and body- and eating-related outcomes, encouraging individuals to actively manage their social media use may offer a practical means of reducing potential harm. Future research may benefit from examining if other trait-level moderators, such as internalised attitudes towards health and weight, account for selectivity and variability in these relationships, and whether gender differences manifest in ways beyond momentary reactivity, such as typical self-evaluations and cumulative exposure to body-focused inspiration content.