{"title":"Healthy or skinny? The negotiation between fear appeal and danmu in anorexia awareness videos.","authors":"Mengsu Shi, Shuang Chen, Kexin Wang","doi":"10.1186/s40337-025-01200-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This study seeks to investigate the impact of anorexia awareness videos on the perception of anorexic figures and pro-anorexia attitude among young females, considering the employed fear appeals and the presence of pro-anorexia content in danmu, an online commenting system prevalent in China.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An experiment was conducted employing a 3 (Fear level of video: low, medium, high) × 4 (Danmu type: no danmu, pro-anorexia, anti-anorexia, mixed pro- and anti-anorexia) between-participants design. A total of 633 female participants were randomly assigned to view one of the twelve videos and subsequently evaluated on fear arousal, pro-anorexia attitude and perception of the anorexic figure scales.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A moderated moderated mediation model demonstrates that heightened fear levels of anorexia awareness videos were linked to a more adverse perception of individuals with anorexia, subsequently reducing pro-anorexia attitude. Furthermore, the fear level of an anorexia awareness video, aroused fear, and the type of danmu interacted in a three-way manner regarding the perception of anorexic individuals. The presence of pro-anorexia content in danmu counteracted the observed positive impact.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results imply that anorexia awareness videos should strive to evoke appropriate levels of fear while also addressing the potential adverse effects of pro-anorexia danmu, which may glorify anorexic bodies and undermine the intended protective outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48605,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eating Disorders","volume":"13 1","pages":"16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11792401/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Eating Disorders","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01200-6","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NUTRITION & DIETETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: This study seeks to investigate the impact of anorexia awareness videos on the perception of anorexic figures and pro-anorexia attitude among young females, considering the employed fear appeals and the presence of pro-anorexia content in danmu, an online commenting system prevalent in China.
Methods: An experiment was conducted employing a 3 (Fear level of video: low, medium, high) × 4 (Danmu type: no danmu, pro-anorexia, anti-anorexia, mixed pro- and anti-anorexia) between-participants design. A total of 633 female participants were randomly assigned to view one of the twelve videos and subsequently evaluated on fear arousal, pro-anorexia attitude and perception of the anorexic figure scales.
Results: A moderated moderated mediation model demonstrates that heightened fear levels of anorexia awareness videos were linked to a more adverse perception of individuals with anorexia, subsequently reducing pro-anorexia attitude. Furthermore, the fear level of an anorexia awareness video, aroused fear, and the type of danmu interacted in a three-way manner regarding the perception of anorexic individuals. The presence of pro-anorexia content in danmu counteracted the observed positive impact.
Conclusions: These results imply that anorexia awareness videos should strive to evoke appropriate levels of fear while also addressing the potential adverse effects of pro-anorexia danmu, which may glorify anorexic bodies and undermine the intended protective outcomes.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Eating Disorders is the first open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing leading research in the science and clinical practice of eating disorders. It disseminates research that provides answers to the important issues and key challenges in the field of eating disorders and to facilitate translation of evidence into practice.
The journal publishes research on all aspects of eating disorders namely their epidemiology, nature, determinants, neurobiology, prevention, treatment and outcomes. The scope includes, but is not limited to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and other eating disorders. Related areas such as important co-morbidities, obesity, body image, appetite, food and eating are also included. Articles about research methodology and assessment are welcomed where they advance the field of eating disorders.