The impact of social media fitness pages on Irish women’s self-esteem, body-image and wellbeing

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the impact of social media fitness pages on the self-esteem, body-image and wellbeing of adult Irish women. The research was a correlation design with a between groups aspect. Data was collected from N=80 participants using online questionnaires and analysed using Pearson’s R and Manova tests using SPSS. The results found there was no correlation between the following of social media fitness pages and women’s self-esteem, body-image and wellbeing. A correlation did exist between the number of fitness pages followed and the body esteem subscale of physical condition. The Manova identified that there was no difference between age groups and their reported levels of self-esteem, body-image and wellbeing, but there was a difference in levels of social media usage across the age groups. Further research using a larger number of participants would be beneficial to broaden this area of study in Ireland.