Investigating longitudinal bidirectional associations between appearance comparisons to fitspiration content on Instagram, positive and negative body image, and dietary restraint

This study tested whether appearance comparisons to fitspiration images on Instagram are reciprocally associated with positive body image, negative body image, and dietary restraint. Adult women were invited to complete study measures at the baseline (n = 3039), 4-month (n = 1453), and 8-month (n = 1329) follow-up. Cross-lagged panel analyses were computed to test hypothesized bidirectional relationships using full information maximum likelihood to handle missing data. Results identified a unidirectional relationship between positive body image and fitspiration comparisons: higher positive body image (body appreciation) predicted lower fitspiration comparisons at each time-point. Evidence for bidirectional associations between fitspiration comparisons, negative body image and dietary restraint was also found. Higher negative body image and dietary restraint predicted greater fitspiration comparisons, and higher fitspiration comparisons predicted greater negative body image and dietary restraint. The findings identify factors associated with appearance-related fitspiration comparisons. Social media literacy programs may benefit from addressing comparisons to fitspiration content depicted on Instagram.