Relationship between appearance-related social media consciousness and beliefs about obese persons among physical education teacher candidates.

Abstract

This study examined whether physical education teacher candidates' appearance-related social media consciousness and beliefs about obese persons differed by teacher candidates' gender and years of study and whether there was a relationship between these two factors. A correlational research design was employed in the study. The study involved 153 physical education teacher candidates. Data were collected using the Demographic Information Form, the Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale and, the Beliefs about Obese Persons Scale. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman's rank correlation tests. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the level of appearance-related social media consciousness and the level of beliefs about obese persons between female and male physical education teacher candidates. In terms of years of study, the level of appearance-related social media consciousness was lower among those in their 2nd and 3rd years than among those in their 4th year, and the level of attitudes towards obese persons was lower in the 3rd year than in the 4th year. The results further showed no correlation between the levels of appearance-related social media consciousness and attitudes towards obese persons among the physical education teacher candidates. These findings highlight the importance of physical education teacher education programs actively addressing appearance-related social media consciousness and beliefs about obese persons, with the aim being to mitigate the emergence of weight-based stigma and foster more inclusive, informed attitudes.