The framing of orthorexia nervosa in Swedish daily newspapers: A longitudinal qualitative content analysis
2016 (English)In: Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum, E-ISSN 2000-088X, Vol. 7, p. 27-46Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This study explored and elucidated how orthorexia is framed in Swedish daily newspapers with a focus on characteristics of orthorexia. Key questions include: 1) how do the newspaper articles connect exercise with orthorexia? and 2) what trends in depicting exercise in relation to orthorexia do the newspaper articles represent over time? The method used was a longitudinal qualitative content analysis guided by the framing theory. We analyzed 166 articles published between 1998 and 2013. Our analysis revealed that orthorexia originally was framed as an eating disorder and subsequently included unhealthy exercise. Two trend shifts could be identified: in 2004, exercise was added as an element and in 2013 extreme exercise trends were described to influence the increase of orthorexia. The findings indicate that Swedish newspapers extend Bratman’s definition and depict orthorexia indiscriminately to describe a range of different behavioral characteristics. These results are discussed in terms of the idea of “healthism” and general health trends in society.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Malmö University , 2016. Vol. 7, p. 27-46
Keywords [en]
Critical perspective, Dietary regulation, Excessive exercise, Framing theory, Healthism, Media Representations, Sports, Sport and Fitness Sciences, Idrottsvetenskap, Pedagogy, Pedagogik
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-73089OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-73089DiVA, id: diva2:1295092
2019-03-102019-03-102023-06-19Bibliographically approved