Objective: This study experimentally examined the effects of viewing a pro-anorexia website.
Method: Following construction of a prototypic pro-anorexia website, 235 female undergraduates were randomly assigned to view either the pro-anorexia website or one of two comparison websites related to female fashion (using average-sized models) or home décor. Post-website affect, cognitions, and behavioral expectations were examined along with moderator effects.
Results: Study participants exposed to the pro-anorexia website had greater negative affect, lower social self-esteem, and lower appearance self-efficacy post-website than those who viewed a comparison website. Additionally, they perceived themselves as heavier, reported a greater likelihood of exercising and thinking about their weight in the near future, and engaged in more image comparison. Minimal support was found for moderator effects.
Conclusion: Results provide an empirical basis for concern (expressed by clinicians, researchers, the media) that pro-anorexia websites are a troubling new form of thin-ideal exposure that warrants further examination.
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Pro-anorexia coaches prey on individuals with eating disorders.
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Rivierduinen Eating Disorders Ursula, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Objective: While studies have focused on pro-ana communities and pro-anorexia websites, no research has been conducted on the presence of pro-anorexia coaches within these communities. This study aimed to gain insight into the modus operandi of pro-anorexia coaches.
Method: First, three fake profiles were used to attempt interaction with pro-anorexia coaches (n = 31).
ProAna Worlds: Affectivity and Echo Chambers Online.
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December 2021
Department of Sociology, Philosophy, and Anthropology, University of Exeter, Amory, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ UK.
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised by self-starvation. Accounts of AN typically frame the disorder in individualistic terms: e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychological Impact of Pro-Anorexia and Pro-Eating Disorder Websites on Adolescent Females: A Systematic Review.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
February 2021
Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Psychiatric Unit Policlinico "G. Martino" Hospital, 98124 Messina, Italy.
(1) Background: Teenagers (in particular, females) suffering from eating disorders report being not satisfied with their physical aspect and they often perceive their body image in a wrong way; they report an excessive use of websites, defined as PRO-ANA and PRO-MIA, that promote an ideal of thinness, providing advice and suggestions about how to obtain super slim bodies. (2) Aim: The aim of this review is to explore the psychological impact of pro-ana and pro-mia websites on female teenagers. (3) Methods: We have carried out a systematic review of the literature on PubMed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood semantics on pro-anorexia websites in Italy.
Riv Psichiatr
October 2021
Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale "A. Zampolli", CNR-ILC, Pisa.
Introduction: The term pro-ana (pro-anorexia) means the spread of restrictive eating behaviors and anorectic advices in virtual spaces written by teenagers. The purpose of this pilot study consists in a qualitative and quantitative analysis of foods contained in a linguistic corpus made up of users' comments on pro-ana websites.
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"It's the Symptom of the Problem, Not the Problem itself": A Qualitative Exploration of the Role of Pro-anorexia Websites in Users' Disordered Eating.
Issues Ment Health Nurs
October 2018
a Department of Health and Life Sciences, School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences , Coventry University, Coventry , UK.
The growing trend in the use of the Internet and social media as a method of self-managing illness presents a critical opportunity to better understand the role of pro-anorexia (pro-ana) websites for eating disorders. Therefore, 155 pro-ana website messages regarding criticism that the site was responsible for developing anorexia were inductively thematically analysed. The analysis revealed five main themes: eating disorders are mental illnesses and websites do not cause mental illness, pro-ana websites and eating disorders are more than wanting to be thin (with sub-theme residents and visitors), eating disorders develop regardless of pro-ana websites, pro-ana sites do not cause eating disorders but they may trigger or encourage them (with sub-theme the problem is the user, not the site) and pro-ana sites provide support.
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