Informational social support and online health information seeking: Examining the association between factors contributing to healthy eating behavior

Objectifying fitness: A content and thematic analysis of #fitspiration images on social media.

“…Acute exposure to appearance-framed exercise messages (over health) can foster feelings of body shame and heighten appearance goals for exercise (Aubrey, 2010) and for those highly motivated on such goals (e.g., weight control, body tone, and attractiveness), the risks of negative body image, depression, and eating disorder symptoms are increased (Strelan & Hargreaves, 2005;Strelan, Mehaffey, & Tiggemann, 2003). Despite social media facilitating positive interaction amongst users and support-seeking in relation to health behaviors (Oh, Lauckner, Boehmer, Fewins-Bliss, & Li, 2013;McKinley & Wright, 2014), most of its content is unregulated and exaggerated ) and yet widely accessible. Hence, the authors raise concerns regarding potentially harmful outcomes (see Vartanian, Wharton, & Green, 2012), particularly for those who might already engage in disordered eating practices or experience negative body image.…”

Health anxiety in the digital age: An exploration of psychological determinants of online health information seeking

“…Often, this behavior is initiated in response to uncertainty associated with one's health (Guillaume & Bath, 2004). Explorations of online health information seeking behavior have, to date, examined information seeking related to various health issues including cancer (Dickerson, Reinhart, Boemhke, & Akhu-Zaheya, 2011;Niederdeppe et al, 2007), healthy eating behavior (McKinley & Wright, 2014), and health care reform (Thompson, Bevan, & Sparks, 2012).…”

Using Smartphone‐Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: A Randomised Trial

“…Yet, intervention studies of social support have not shown strong effects. One partner‐based intervention found small and marginally significant effects (Prestwich et al., ), and others found no effects on eating behavior (Anderson Steeves, Jones‐Smith, Hopkins, & Gittelsohn, ; Kwan & Gordon, ) or eating‐related behavioral intentions (McKinley & Wright, ).…”