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Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, Zinedine Zidane… Which celebrity inspires you the most in terms of healthy living and health? While these personalities have plenty to motivate the troops to achieve their goals in this area, it could be that your loved ones, especially your parents, are better able to guide you. Science says so!
Fashion, beauty, fitness, gastronomy… Influencers today offer advice, tips, and addresses in many areas, including health. Good news, promoting a healthy lifestyle has become commonplace on social networks, to the point that users are now taking inspiration from content creators, even celebrities, to change some of their lifestyle habits. But is this really a good thing? This is the question that American researchers have been working on.
The authors of this work, researchers from Washington State University, surveyed 404 adults who said they had been inspired by role models in the health field. They were asked questions about their motivations in terms of physical and mental health, and the role models – or type of role models – who could inspire them. Published in the newspaper Health Communicationtheir research suggests that identifying a personal influence, such as a family member or friend, or even a health professional, has more influence on health motivation than a famous influencer.
Family, a source of motivation
“We know that parents exert considerable influence on individuals’ health trajectories throughout their lives, even if only by teaching them the principles of fitness and nutrition. As this study shows, parental influence is important and lasting, even into adulthood“, says Nicole O’Donnell, a communications researcher at Washington State University, in a press release.
In detail, the study shows that when looking for inspiration in terms of health – understanding lifestyle – participants are primarily concerned with “perceived similarity”, in other words an influence that resembles them. As a result, almost two thirds of them (64%) turn primarily to a member of their family, a peer or an acquaintance. Note, however, that women were 2.5 times more likely than men to choose influence from those around them.
“If you see a friend join a gym or decide to run a half marathon, you can follow their journey and have the same resources to do the same. Celebrities often have chefs and personal trainers—they have a lot of resources that we don’t.“, continues the researcher.
Be careful, however, this does not mean that celebrities are not a source of motivation to take into account for ordinary people. They do not have the greatest influence, but can have a positive impact, believe the authors of this work. In this little game, Dwayne Johnson, LeBron James, Tom Brady and Michelle Obama were the public figures most cited by the (American) participants.