Does this Tweet make me look fat? A content analysis of weight stigma on Twitter

Lydecker, Janet A.; Cotter, Elizabeth W.; Palmberg, Allison A.; Simpson, Courtney C.; Kwitowski, Melissa; White, Kelly; Mazzeo, Suzanne E.

doi:10.1007/s40519-016-0272-x

Cited by 65 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Even in the case of lung cancer related to a history of tobacco use, patients are usually seen as victims trapped by their addictions. If a medical classification can help to reduce the persistent weight bias narrative in the mainstream media and social media , this is also a compelling justification for the World Obesity position.…”

Section: Supporting Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment: obesity as a disease – some implications for the World Obesity Federation's advocacy and public health activities

et al. 2017

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Section: Supporting Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment: obesity as a disease – some implications for the World Obesity Federation's advocacy and public health activities

et al. 2017

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“…Twitter) illustrates a prominent theme of offensive and prejudiced attitude and perception towards the notion of obesity [ 24 ]. Among a wide range of stigmatizing content, obese individuals are perceived largely as gluttonous, unattractive, and sedentary [ 25 ]. Based on a person’s weight or body size, youthful victims are stereotyped in a discriminatory, biased manner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between body mass index and health outcomes among adolescents: the mediating role of traditional and cyber bullying victimization

2018

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BackgroundIt is well-documented that obese children and adolescents tend to experience a variety of negative physical and psychological health consequences. Despite the association between obesity and physical and psychological well-being, few studies have examined the role of off-line and on-line forms of bullying victimization in this link. The main objective of the current study is to investigate the direct and mediating effects of traditional and cyber bullying victimization in explaining the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) and physical/psychological distress.MethodsA nationally representative sample of 10,160 school children (mean age = 12.95 ± 1.75) were collected from the 2009 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Data were collected on body mass index, physical and psychological health, bullying victimization experience, and demographic information. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) was employed to assess and compare the indirect effects in multiple mediation models.ResultsWhile a significant direct association was found between BMI and both physical and psychological health, the indirect effect of BMI on physical distress was significant only via traditional bullying victimization. Both forms of bullying victimization had a mediating impact between BMI and psychological distress. However, the indirect effect on psychological distress was manifested through a negative mediating role of cyberbullying victimization. The negative relation between cyberbullying victimization and psychological distress warrants further exploration.ConclusionsObesity represents a serious risk to adolescent health and well-being, both physically and psychologically. If becoming a victim of traditional bullying mediates (specifically exacerbates) the level of physical and psychological distress among obese and overweight adolescents, health professionals need to focus on raising awareness of the importance of weight-based victimization for children and adolescents with obesity. School administrators and teachers could increase the efforts to identify school-age children who are stigmatized for their weight and recommend coping strategies for distressed victims of traditional and cyberbullying.

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“…All tweets were coded independently by one researcher (NOK), and a random 10% sample was independently coded by a second researcher (AG) to ensure reliability. This approach in determining inter-rater reliability using a small sample of the dataset is one taken in previous research (14,19). A good inter-rater agreement was achieved for both source (82.8%) and content (80.0%) of tweets.…”

Section: Coding Strategymentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Studies have also explored some key features of health-related conversations. For example, tweets on obesity have exhibited weight-stigmatising messages and derogatory, misogynistic sentiment, (14,15) while other studies have observed humour being shared around the topic, including weight-related puns, repartee and parody (16). However, little work to date has explored SM conversation and information-share around speci c health behaviours that contribute to obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as physical activity, diet, or weight loss.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is Sharing Physical Activity, Diet and Weight Loss Information on Twitter? An Exploratory Thematic and Source Analysis of Tweets

O'Kane

McKinley

Gough

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundSocial media platforms such as Twitter are used increasingly to consume and share information, including health-related information. Previous research has analysed the obesity conversation on Twitter, but no work to date has explored content related to specific contributing health behaviours, such as physical activity, diet and weight loss. The aim of this study was to identify the content and source of physical activity, diet and weight loss information on Twitter, in order to identify common content and sources of these tweets.Methods Exploratory thematic and source analysis was conducted on tweets containing the words “physical activity”, “diet”, or “weight loss”, collected over a 7-day period in March 2017. Sources were coded as professional, non-professional, or information intermediaries (non-protected titles and potentially misleading terms, such as ‘personal trainer’). Tweets were coded as educational (news and research, guidelines and recommendations), or non-educational (promotional, conversational, behavioural, or directing to another platform).ResultsA 1% sample of tweets (n=1,433) was analysed. The majority of tweets (69.2%) were related to diet, and most tweets were non-educational in nature. Among non-educational tweets, promotion of products or services was the most commonly identified theme (33.4%). Educational tweets comprised just under a third of the sample, and most of these (96.8%; n=455) came from non-professionals or information intermediaries. Most of the educational tweets from a non-professional source (74.0%; n=296) were providing advice in the form of recommendations or guidelines. Only 1.3% of all tweets came from a professional source. ConclusionsOnly 3% of the educational information shared on Twitter regarding physical activity, diet and weight loss came from a professional source. This suggests that Twitter users are at high risk of receiving information from non-professional sources, which may include non-evidence-based information or potentially harmful misinformation.

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Does this Tweet make me look fat? A content analysis of weight stigma on Twitter

Cited by 65 publications

References 36 publications

Comment: obesity as a disease – some implications for the World Obesity Federation's advocacy and public health activities

Comment: obesity as a disease – some implications for the World Obesity Federation's advocacy and public health activities

Association between body mass index and health outcomes among adolescents: the mediating role of traditional and cyber bullying victimization

Who is Sharing Physical Activity, Diet and Weight Loss Information on Twitter? An Exploratory Thematic and Source Analysis of Tweets

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