Hashtagging Your Health: Using Psychosocial Variables and Social Media Use to Understand Impression Management and Exercise Behaviors in Women

Our society has become heavily reliant on social media, especially in the health and exercise domain. Social and environmental factors impact females’ body image perceptions and create body image disturbances, yet little research is dedicated to the exploration of how social media, and social comparisons through social media exposure, impact exercise behaviors and body image perceptions in females. Considering Perloff\u27s (2014) theoretical model, the current study explored how the interaction between individual psychosocial variables and social media use predict exercise behaviors and engagement in impression management in women. Using a mixed methodological approach, the specific aims of this study were to explore (1) how psychosocial behaviors and social media use predict exercise behaviors and engagement in impression management; (2) the relationship between exercise behaviors, frequency of social media use, and content posted to social media; (3) how social media influences women’s thoughts, perceptions, and conceptualizations of a healthy body and healthy exercise behaviors. Two studies were conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore associations in recreationally active women. The results of these studies provide insight into the complexities of social media and its influence on exercise behaviors and impression management, providing information that may be used to develop future interventions to increase body positivity on social media and improve exercise experiences

I Didn\u27t Know How All This Works : A Case Study Examining The Transition Experiences of Student-Athletes from High School to a Mid-Major DI Program

The transition period from high school to college includes a myriad of issues specific to student-athletes (Bernhard & Bell, 2015; Bjornsen & Dinkel, 2017; Comeaux, 2015). The present study sought to illuminate the specific transition issues faced by mid-major, DI student-athletes by providing them the platform to describe them in their own words, and provide their own recommendations for improvement. Utilizing a semi-structured interview guide which addressed transition issues, the qualitative study included 23 student-athletes in focus group settings. Analysis of interview data led to the emergence of two themes, with accompanying subthemes: 1) Encounters with academic support, with subthemes of transitioning to campus and perceived responsibilities of athletic academic advisors; and 2) Skewed perceptions and expectations of student-athlete life, with subthemes of expectations regarding the coach-athlete relationship, lifestyle modifications, and high stress practice environments. The findings suggest a notable trend – student-athletes lack the support they need to successfully deal with the transition. The transition process itself also appears to involve three specific periods: 1) Prior to arrival on campus; 2) Initial arrival on campus; and 3) Following the initial transition to campus. The findings will help to better design standards for helping student-athletes navigate the transition process

She\u27s not my ideal: Mixed messages about CrossFit women

Presentation given at North American Society for the Sociology of Sport annual conferenc

The Looking Glass Athlete: Female CrossFitters Reflect on Self

Presentation given at International Sociology of Sport Association annual conference This research project uses focus group interviews with 46 women who participate in CrossFit to explore how these female athletes build concepts of self through social interactions. Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self” (1902) maintains that we learn to see ourselves through the mirror of how we perceive that others see us. In this research, even as the women work to build both strong bodies and strong self-images, we found that they were hyper-aware of how others viewed their participation in CrossFit. The women in our focus groups celebrated their own increased strength and fitness, but they shared stories of parents, grandparents, friends, co-workers, and sometimes even spouses who disapproved of their involvement with CrossFit. In addition to recognizing the concerns held by family and friends, these women were also quick to describe negative reactions perceived to be held by strangers and generalized others. Paradoxically, even as participants expressed high levels of self-confidence and personal growth, which they attributed to their involvement in CrossFit, their discussions of what other people think of their nontraditional fitness activities were often fraught with anxiety, revealing that the looking-glass continues to shape our self-perceptions. * Charles H. Cooley. 1902. Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner’s

How Do the Women of Crossfit Use Social Media? An Exploratory Study to Examine Influences and Impacts

Presented at the International Sociology of Sport Association The sport of CrossFit embodies the philosophy that participants both develop and strengthen their mental and physical capacities. Specifically, women of CrossFit are empowered through the sport as females are treated equally to their male counterparts. Interestingly, these women seem to operate in isolation within CrossFit gyms from the larger society where messages in the gym counter traditional messages about women’s strength, acceptance and social expectations. Social media plays a large part in connecting CrossFitters to information and to one another (Heyward, 2015). Faroduly and Vartanian (2015) highlighted that women are often negatively influenced by using social media and have reported higher rates of decreased body image and increased cases of eating disorders, depression, and anxiety. Therefore, the dual purposes of the current research is to examine (1) how women of CrossFit at various levels are influenced by social media and (2) how these same women use social media. We conducted 11 semistructured focus group interviews with 47 females that actively participate in CrossFit at various levels. The major themes that arose from the study were: participants use social media as an empowering tool; social media provides a platform to share personal successes; social media provides a platform to enhance personal views and perceptions of body image; and participants filter the people, information, and advertisements they follow. We concluded that our participants, women of CrossFit, have shown resilience against documented negative impacts related to social media