The parasocial relationships between social media fitness influencers and youth fitness behavior in Malaysia

Low, Xin Yi (2023) The parasocial relationships between social media fitness influencers and youth fitness behavior in Malaysia. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

Social media fitness influencer was a new form of digital health communicator influencing the public through healthy behaviors. Geyser (2022) mentioned that their high frequency of sharing on social media has attracted more public to pay attention to their latest update by engaging themselves towards fitness. The largest population was likely to be influenced by social media influencers belongs to youth (Dopson, 2022). However, few Malaysian contexts study how the social media fitness influencer can affect youth fitness behavior. Hence, this research aims to comprehend the parasocial relationships between social media fitness influencers and youth fitness behavior in Malaysia. The quantitative research method will be utilized in this study, while SPSS software was used to analyze acquired data. 202 youths between age of 15 to 24 have participated in the survey questionnaire. The results showed that trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness affected youth fitness behavior, and all hypotheses were accepted. Social cognitive theory has been applied to define the study's research objective and questions. Recommendations were applied to improve the limits of future study. In conclusion, all research objectives have been achieved while the research questions have been answered.

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