THURS-102 - Exercise Behavior and Self-efficacy in Fitspiration-viewing College Students

Brief Abstract Summary: Audience members can expect to walk away from this presentation with a greater understanding of fitspiration and possible pros and cons of following fitness influencers for college students. Many students are using social media as a motivator for healthy behaviors like physical activity. This IRB approved study sought to explore the influence of viewing fitspiration in a college student audience.
Overall, following fitness influencers was associated with increased physical activity and self-efficacy for exercise. Following fitness influencers, in this case, demonstrated a greater likelihood of exercising when tired, feeling down, or busy with work. Health promoters should encourage students to follow credentialed, evidence-based fitness influencers, as following fitness influencers could have a positive influence on consistent exercise and can be used as a tool for exercise motivation.

Detailed abstract description: In this presentation, the audience will be introduced to findings of a research study on college students’ exercise behaviors and self-efficacy when following fitness influencers on social media. Audience members can expect to walk away from this presentation with a greater understanding of fitspiration and possible pros and cons of following fitness influencers for college students.
This is an important topic to explore as many students are turning to social media for several hours each day, and some use it as a primary source of health information and as a motivator for healthy behaviors like physical activity. This study sought to explore the influence of viewing fitspiration (e.g., social media content dedicated to inspiring its viewers to pursue fitness) in a college student audience. Specifically, differences between students who intentionally seek out content from fitness influencers and those who do not seek out this content were explored.
A university Institutional Review Board approved this study. The findings presented here were collected as part of a larger experimental study, which has been presented elsewhere. Data for this study was collected in person, using paper surveys, from about 150 students in college classrooms. The Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) was used to assess exercise self-efficacy and lower scores indicate higher self-efficacy.
125 college students over the age of 18 completed the survey for this study.
An independent samples t-test was used to assess group differences in Exercise Self-Efficacy for students who view fitness influencers (M = 2.46, SD = .740, n = 45) and those who do not (M = 3.02, SD = .831, n = 75). This is a statistically significant difference (t(118) = 3.771, p < .001). Additionally, students who follow fitness influencers on social media scored statistically significantly more favorably on eight of the nine items of the survey (means and p-values will be presented in table format for presentation). Students who follow fitness influencers also reported statistically significantly more days of general exercise (p < .001), resistance training (p = .002) and cardio training (p = .011).
Overall, following fitness influencers was associated with increased physical activity and self-efficacy for exercise. Following fitness influencers, in this case, demonstrated a greater likelihood of exercising when tired, feeling down, or busy with work. Thus, following fitness influencers could have a positive influence on consistent exercise and self-efficacy for maintaining a physical activity routine. It should be noted, however, that fitness influencers can negatively influence body satisfaction and self-esteem, and health promoters should be aware of their possible harmful impact when working with a college student audience. Following credentialed, evidence-based fitness influencers should be encouraged.