Original articlePro-anorexics and recovering anorexics differ in their linguistic Internet self-presentation☆
Introduction
Pro-anorexia has received widespread media attention as a new and emotionally charged eating disorder phenomenon [1]. Pro-anorexics are individuals who consider anorexia a legitimate alternative lifestyle that they choose to have, rather than an illness that they cannot control [2]. Their websites contain pictures of emaciated models, tips for dieting and how to hide weight loss from parents or doctors, and community manifestoes such as the “Ana Creed”, a list of beliefs that describe what it means to be pro-anorexic (e.g., “I believe in a wholly black and white world, the losing of weight, recrimination for sins, the abnegation of the body and a life ever fasting”; [2], [3]). Although the real prevalence of “pro-ana” sites is impossible to determine, their number has been estimated to exceed 500 [4]. A concern about these sites is their potential to trigger those on the brink of an eating disorder into full-fledged anorexia. Despite media efforts to combat pro-anorexic attitudes, these sites remain popular [2].
The purpose of this study was to explore differences in self-presentation styles of individuals who publicly defend anorexia as a lifestyle and individuals who identify themselves as recovering from anorexia. Methodologically, we attempted to complement traditional questionnaire-based assessments by sampling information directly and nonreactively from pro-anorexics' main communication platforms, personal homepages, and message boards [5], [6]. Two text sources, homepages and message boards, were selected to identify self-presentation styles that generalize across different online media. Pro-anorexics were contrasted against recovering anorexics as a comparison group to better understand how attitudinal factors can affect psychological processes that, in turn, may create barriers to successful anorexia treatment. Recovering anorexics were further considered an appropriate comparison group because they also extensively use homepages and message boards to share their experiences with others.
This study analyzed self-presentation from a linguistic perspective [7]. The psychological study of language use has recently received increasing scientific attention [8]. Word-count-based text analysis approaches have been shown to reliably capture diagnostic information about a wide range of psychological phenomena, including psychiatric disorders [9], suicidal ideations [10], coping with breast and prostate cancer [11], [12], psychological responses to a national upheaval [13], and even risk for coronary heart disease [14].
Because of their vehement anorexia-as-a-lifestyle ideology, we expected pro-anorexics, compared with recovering anorexics, to show a more pronounced hedonic focus (references to positive emotions and the present), a higher level of self-absorption (references to self), and a lower level of cognitive reflection (use of cognitive words).
Section snippets
Study design
The study was a 2 (pro-anorexia vs. recovering anorexia) × 2 (homepage vs. message board) factorial design with linguistic markers of basic emotional, cognitive, and social processes, temporal focus, and anorexia-related psychological concerns as dependent variables.
Sampling of homepages and message boards
Pro-anorexia homepages (i.e., personal websites) were retrieved from popular Internet search engines (keywords: “pro anorexia”, “pro ana”) and by following links from major pro-anorexia sites (e.g., “Anorexic Nation”, “Fat Like Me”,
Results
Table 2 summarizes the results from a series of univariate two-way analyses of variance for the selected LIWC variables. All effects are based on 1 and 214 degrees of freedom.
The analyses of the linguistic indicators of emotional processes indicated that compared with recovering anorexics, pro-anorexics used more positive emotional words in both their homepages as well as their message boards. Pro-anorexics also used anxiety words at a markedly lower rate than recovering anorexics. Furthermore,
Discussion and conclusion
The purpose of this study was to explore pro-anorexia as a new, highly emotional, and publicly controversial phenomenon. The findings revealed that pro-anorexics and recovering anorexics differed reliably in the language that they used in their homepages and on message boards. Specifically, compared with recovering anorexics, the word use of pro-anorexics indicated a more pronounced hedonic focus on positive emotions and the here and now, reduced level of cognitive processing, and a lower
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The preparation of this article was aided by the National Institutes of Health Grant MH52391.