'When you think of exercising, you don't really want to think of puking, tears, and pain': Young adolescents' understanding of fitness and #fitspiration.

Adolescents access information about fitness, including content labelled as #fitspiration, through social media. A total of 77 adolescents (mean age = 12.49; standard deviation = 0.55; girls = 27) participated in semi-structured focus groups to explore their perspectives on #fitspiration and fitness more broadly. Through inductive thematic analysis, four themes were developed: (1) fitness enhances physical function and appearance, but these are not always linked; (2) fitness is transformative but requires hard work; (3) fitness should be an intrinsically motivated personal choice; and (4) pain in the pursuit of fitness. Findings highlight young adolescents' complex understandings of fitness negotiated through their critical interpretation of #fitspiration.

Young men's body dissatisfaction: A qualitative analysis of anonymous online accounts.

Associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, body dissatisfaction in young men requires close examination. This study explores online accounts relating to male body image, including young men's personal disclosures within one online newspaper article, and posts responding to this topic. Discursively informed thematic analysis indicated that non-disclosure was considered a problematic social expectation by the young men featured in the article. Also, reader posts variously constructed body dissatisfaction as a symptom of adolescence, a lack of self-care and an incapacity to capitalise on compensatory qualities. Our analysis suggests young men may welcome safe opportunities to critically discuss prevailing body image ideals.