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Pro-Anorexia on Social Media

Harmon, Jennifer
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404301648

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Human Ecology: Fashion and Retail Studies.
This dissertation presents a qualitative study investigating the phenomenon of pro-ana, or pro-anorexia, on social media. Pro-Ana, or Pro-anorexia, is a recent trend just emerging from its first decade of research (Casilli, Tubaro, & Araya, 2012). Those who are a part of online pro-ana communities view anorexia as a lifestyle choice, not a serious mental disorder (Christodoulou, 2012). Based mainly online, pro-ana community members use the Internet to connect with each other, share tips and tricks to hide their disorder and celebrate one another’s weight loss (See Christodoulou, 2012; Casilli et. al, 2011). Previous research has focused on pro-ana websites as identified by searching Internet browsers (See Dias, 2003). The goal of the present study is to examine pro-ana on social media. The presence of pro-ana on social media (social networking sites) has received limited previous scholarship. In addition to having less research performed on these particular sites, these sites are largely accessed by young adults (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuhr, 2010). Additionally, attempts to suppress this content have been made by each of the three websites in this study. The over-arching purpose of this study was to (1) identify if the suppression attempt has been successful and (2) identify the attributes of pro-ana content on the three social media websites which prompt the content to become inactive on each website. Additionally, major aspects of the content, such as the influence of media generated content, characteristics of the beauty ideal and the role of fashion were analyzed. Finally, themes present in the content were analyzed with thematic analysis. In order to achieve the goals of this research, a qualitative content analysis was performed. The initial phase of data coding was based on the results of an exploratory study ending in March of 2013. The observed content was followed for seven months. Coding for characteristics of content was coded as present or absent. Thematic analysis was used to report qualitative themes such as prevalence and types of emotional distress, while testing for content prevalence and characteristic differences utilizing the Chi-square test of independence. Results from this study indicate that the attempted suppression of pro-anorexia content have not been successful. Further, there do not appear to be consistent differences in terms of what characteristics of this content are different in terms of remaining active versus becoming inactive. Additionally, the beauty ideal portrayed was essentially uniform across all three websites during the observation phase. The main implication from this study is that suppression attempts have at this point been unsuccessful and will likely remain so until society’s view of beauty becomes more inclusive.
Nancy Rudd, Dr. (Advisor)
Janet Buckworth, Dr. (Committee Member)
Korie Edwards, Dr. (Committee Member)
Jay Kandampully, Dr. (Committee Member)
170 p.
Communication; Sociology
pro-anorexia, social media, content analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Harmon, J. (2014). Pro-Anorexia on Social Media [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404301648

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Harmon, Jennifer. Pro-Anorexia on Social Media. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404301648.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Harmon, Jennifer. "Pro-Anorexia on Social Media." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404301648

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1404301648
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.